Major Tom - 3 Cave System???

[dakwriter]

I'm really glad to hear that Major Tom now has more comfortable transportation. Given that, I have no qualms about recommending his tours to anyone.:)

[driftwood]

. . . Major Tom may get too many bookings, and then he, like all other enormously successful tour providers, might have to rent-a-bus'n'driver to carry everyone with him! And then who can say what the seat springs will be like? :D

 

No, what I want for Major Tom is an elite and elegant clientele, a cultured few, generous to a fault and willing to volunteer tips for value certainly received, who will listen to what he has to teach them and heed his safety warnings, and who will treasure the great deal that they will learn from him long after they return to their far-off lands. :rolleyes:

 

Go with him not for his personal seatsprings or his air conditioner, but for the immense fun and the wonderful memories! You won't be disappointed! ;)

[smilin]

I agree with you Driftwood...when I am away on holiday, I enjoy an adventure....full of fun but safety first. If we have to travel on a bus with open windows but can laugh and enjoy the countryside with great guides, so be it! If I want an airconditioned Mercedes van, then book through the ship or choose another activity. When it comes to choosing the right tour operator, the problem is there are too many choices!!

[danklcsw]

My /dw and I toured w/ Major Tom's son Tom Jr. last week. We scheduled the Zip Line and Cave Tour combo and we only ended up with five of us and were very comfortable in the a/c white Toyota van - I can see how this van being full with the side seats would be uncomfortable for the long drive. Tom Jr. did an excellent job for the tour.

 

Our problems were encountered with three older ladies on the tour which slowed us dowm considerably. One lady had many medical problems and I thought that she was going to pass out due to the heat and walking conditions. I thought that Tom Jr. was ill prepared to make the medical deciksons necessary to assure this passengers health saftey. This lady's poor decison about going on this tour unfortunately affected our enjoyment of the tour. Tom Jrs time was pretty much committed to taking care of this elderly, ill lady. There wasn't another guide with him so he was sort of stuck. I was asked to carry Tom Jrs tube pretty much the whole walk to the start of the river cruise.

 

We also started about an hour and a half late due to waiting for another couple who never showed up.

 

WE skipped lunch other than a order to go and got back to the pier within minutes of the last shuttle. From what I hear from many other reports on this site, this is an exception to the rule of excelllent experiences but I would strongly recomend that paticipants are asked if there are medical problems that they are being treated for which would interfere with their ability to take this tour.

 

Tom's Tours also lock feet with evryone and provide an excellent narrative of the caves and Belize.

 

Dan and Joy - Spirit 3/2/2008

[NCTribeFan]

I just booked with him for our Glory cruise. DD & I for the cave tubing. Really looking forward to it!

[kcsooner]

We are just back from our 15th cruise. We booked Major Tom for the cave tubing excursion in Belize and we are still disappointed several days later. We are a family of 4 with kids 9 and 11. All of us feel like we are pretty easy going and I can't think of the last time I felt obligated to vent about a tour operator. Most of these guys really work hard at what they do. We went on three other excursions in GC, Coz, and Roatan and each of them grade out, A+.

 

First let me say, there is a distinction between the quality of the attraction and the quality of the service. In this case, the attraction (cave tubing) in Belize is quite a sight and shouldn't be missed.

 

So here it is, the events of our "service" from Major Tom's operation.

 

The short version: we paid for a tour, what we got was a bus ticket, some scrapes and verbally abused.

 

Here were the highlights of our trip:

 

Major Tom gave us a warm welcome and said he would be right behind us in the next bus. It was the last we ever saw of him.

 

We took a bus ride for about an hour to the falls with a detailed explanation of the City's highlights from the guide.

 

Upon arriving at the river, our guide, Manuel, changed from his street clothes to his swim wear in the bus in front of two teenage girls. And yes the changing room was only 100 feet away.

 

Major Tom's operation was setup this day with one guide to one bus. We had 15 people, the bus behind us had 21. Essentially when we got to the entry point on the river, were wished well and told "see you when you come out".

 

Once we were in the cave floating along, we were doing our best to keep our kids near us while looking at an amazing cave. But once in the cave, our guide, repeatedly yelled at us to hury up. At some point, a guide from another company helped us get our kids hooked together, which was much safer.

 

Upon exiting the cave, my younger son floated into the rocky shallows and upon exiting his tube to find deeper water, got slightly hurt. Our guide, rushed over to see what had slowed him and told him to hurry up. He was crying by this time.

 

We were yelled at numerous times and had progressed through the cave just as fast as anyone else. There are dozens of people in the cave at any one time, and I figure if no one is passing you, you are doing okay on speed.

 

We had two senior citizens with us in the group. Grandpa lost his tube in the rapids and goes bumbing along in the rocks. Major Tom's guide walks by and offers no help. Grandma gets stuck in a tree and the park guys have to bail her out of trouble. Our guide just watched that one.

 

At the end of the trip, my wife and I had thought the cave was a "don't miss" attraction. Both my sons, who are quite tough and adventersome hated it.

 

If you need a bus ride to the river, take Major Tom. He will get you there with a little history of the city and answer all kinds of questions with the correct "chamber of commerce" answer.

 

If you want a safer (and maybe more enjoyable) trip down the river try the .com guys or the guys with the "bottoms up" shirts. They were more organized. We saw two guides to every group and the guides worked the whole time keeping their folks out of the shallows and moving along safely. They do interlock their groups together as they float and then the guides lead, pull, do whatever it takes to get you down the river. They do a little yelling of "butts up", but after a rock plays with your backside a couple of times in the dark, you are thankful for the warning. Maybe I just kept watching these groups and expecting the same treatment.

 

Anyway, this was the single low point in a great cruise, with great weather. Smooooth sailing the whole way.

[Travel Angel]

Wow.... I have taken this tour with Major Tom on a couple occassions and never had the problems you experienced when we went. We have travelled once with a small group and once with a large group.

 

I guess not every tour goes as smooth as another, but this seems very out of the ordinary for Major Tom's reputation that I have experienced personally or that our clients have as well.

[driftwood]

Thanks for sharing, kcsooner! :eek::eek::eek:

[kcsooner]

We went with the Major because of all the reading on this board. He, himself is a very pleasant gentlemen and we were really excited about going. Got great communication via email, good reviews, what's not to like...

 

We went to the river in a 44 seat blue bird bus. 15 persons, lots of room.

 

I frankly liked the guide's commentary through the city.

 

But 6 of 15 got some pretty good bumbs and bruises going down the river on their own. Nothing major: scrapes, bumps, bruises. It just didn't need to be that way.

 

The other tour guides seemed to be more concerned for their "guests" on the river itself. We got more help from the other guides than our own Major Tom guide.

 

again, I don't want to discourage anyone from the attraction of the cave. It was great. And surely not every Major Tom tour is like ours. I am just telling you about our trip.

 

That day, I saw three different companies on the river and Major Tom was the weaker of the three by a long shot.

[kcsooner]

Gee drift,

 

Just posted what happened. Didn't really think that was going to offend you or anyone else so much. Sorry you judge people by the number of posts they have. :eek: Still not sure what that has to do with tubing in belize, though.

[Travel Angel]

We went with the Major because of all the reading on this board. He, himself is a very pleasant gentlemen and we were really excited about going. Got great communication via email, good reviews, what's not to like...

 

We went to the river in a 44 seat blue bird bus. 15 persons, lots of room.

 

I frankly liked the guide's commentary through the city.

 

But 6 of 15 got some pretty good bumbs and bruises going down the river on their own. Nothing major: scrapes, bumps, bruises. It just didn't need to be that way.

 

The other tour guides seemed to be more concerned for their "guests" on the river itself. We got more help from the other guides than our own Major Tom guide.

 

again, I don't want to discourage anyone from the attraction of the cave. It was great. And surely not every Major Tom tour is like ours. I am just telling you about our trip.

 

That day, I saw three different companies on the river and Major Tom was the weaker of the three by a long shot.

 

Bums and bruises could have happened regardless of who you had booked with on this tour and I suspect they occured when going down the river portion of the tour. Major Tom and his guides always warned us in advance to "Butts Up" due to the water levels being so low and also assisted if anyone got hung in the currents.

 

Although I think the guide changing in front of the teen age girls was inappropriate (and I do find it hard to believe that you are not exxagerating a tad on this), I am not ridiculling your expereince, but some of your complaints are really not at the fault of Major Tom's tour guide talents.

 

Glad you enjoyed Belize though.

[kcsooner]

Angel,

Got to agree with you on the bumps. You go to the river, you expect a little scrape as part of the adventure.

 

As for the changing. Yep it happened. Most of the guests had left the bus except for two girls, my oldest boy and me. He changed again on the way back in the same spot and hung his suit on the back seat. With a changing room 100 feet away it was unecessary.

 

As for the Major Tom guide here are the differences I saw:

 

The MT guide to guest ratio was 1:15 and 1:21. The other groups on the river I would guess at around 2:20. Don't know if this is usual, but this is what I saw that day.

 

The MT guide was inappropriate in his actions several times. He yelled at guests, he badmouthed the other tour company, he changed in the bus, and he wouldn't help some of his guests having difficulty. Maybe one chalks this up to a bad day.

 

Our group got more help from other guides on the river that day, rather than the MT Guide.

 

The MT guide had us go down the river as individuals, other groups went down interconnected. To each his own, but we were floating in a dark cave. My kids would have preferred being connected and guided through the cave (that would have gave them a more comfortable feeling).

 

Again, maybe the guide was having a bad day. Maybe it was just an unlucky run down the river. But there were differences in the companies that day for sure.

[driftwood]

. . . as the President might say. I thought your post was excellent in detail and encyclopedic in scope. Obviously those of us who have had a very different and much happier experience were shuddering, both on behalf of what you experienced, and on behalf of Major Tom, who, I do not doubt, would be horrified by the behavior of the guide he had hired to assist you. It is frightening to contemplate the fragility of reputation, as we saw in the case of President Clinton and are now seeing in the case of Governor Pataki.

 

Small observations on the Cruise Critic Boards have a terrible ripple effect when they strike the shores of the Caribbean--Cruisers are only in port for a day, and all of them are agonizing over the tour company they should choose, and what adventure they should risk their lives attempting. When we went with Major Tom, there was a total of seven of us, and we were with him the whole time. There was certainly no inappropriate changing going on, and frankly if either my wife or I had observed any such thing about to happen, it wouldn't have taken Major Tom to stop it--but that may just be generation gap. Perhaps I would have mentioned it on the Board, and perhaps not. Should we infer that it is part and parcel of the cave tubing experience? I think not. It is both shocking and surprising, as we observed no such sort of behavior on the part of anyone in the two weeks we were there. I do not believe we ever met Manuel, admittedly; and admittedly we were not in the company of two teenaged girls.

 

It does sound like a number of things were not right on the day that you were there. The guest to guide proportion is certainly not typical, but it suggests to me that things had occurred that were beyond Major Tom's control, and of course that is never good either for guest or guide. I am very sorry that you did not have a good experience, and I am certainly glad that nothing more serious happened in those circumstances.

 

My observation regarding the frequency of your posting was based on the fact that we like to pretend that there is a community here of concerned cruisers, who make an effort to share our experiences, our recommendations, our "lucky finds," with each other, so that although we may only have a tiny piece of the puzzle in our hands, people in search of answers to questions can read what our experiences have been, and avoid them or choose to share them when they reach each port of call. A person who writes as well and as fully detailed a post as you are obviously capable of writing really would be a welcome asset, particularly for those visiting Roatan, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Yet in fifteen cruises, essentially this is the only review of services you have ever made. I realize that not everyone has a great deal of time--either to write a review, or to read one. But, for example, to recommend other companies that you happened to observe while you were at the caves is far more rash than perhaps you realize. Evidently everyone has a skeleton in his closet--you have only opened one closet of three so far. "When you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with." Who knows what may have happened on Thursday or Friday, if for example you were cave tubing on Wednesday? :D It's a great, big, wonderful world--and every once in a while we scrape against a rock, or bump our butts--or, I guess, observe an unselfconscious juvenile expose himself . . . . :rolleyes:

[maxamuus]

My observation regarding the frequency of your posting was based on the fact that we like to pretend that there is a community here of concerned cruisers, who make an effort to share our experiences, our recommendations, our "lucky finds," with each other, so that although we may only have a tiny piece of the puzzle in our hands, people in search of answers to questions can read what our experiences have been, and avoid them or choose to share them when they reach each port of call. A person who writes as well and as fully detailed a post as you are obviously capable of writing really would be a welcome asset, particularly for those visiting Roatan, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Yet in fifteen cruises, essentially this is the only review of services you have ever made. I realize that not everyone has a great deal of time--either to write a review, or to read one. But, for example, to recommend other companies that you happened to observe while you were at the caves is far more rash than perhaps you realize. Evidently everyone has a skeleton in his closet--you have only opened one closet of three so far. "When you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with." Who knows what may have happened on Thursday or Friday, if for example you were cave tubing on Wednesday? :D It's a great, big, wonderful world--and every once in a while we scrape against a rock, or bump our butts--or, I guess, observe an unselfconscious juvenile expose himself . . . . :rolleyes:

 

Yeah, im sure he had this all planned out.

 

1. step up cruise critic account.

2. wait THREE YEARS!!!!

3. post bogus review of cave tubing excursion.

 

The perfect crime.

[lawtyger]

We booked Major Tom for the cave tubing excursion in Belize and we are still disappointed several days later.

 

Major Tom's operation was setup this day with one guide to one bus. We had 15 people, the bus behind us had 21.

 

Kcsooner, what day last week was your excursion with Major Tom's outfit. We did the zip-lining / cave tubing combo on Thursday, March 13th.

 

In many respects we experienced the exact opposite that you did (for example, our guide George inter-locked are tubes and even dislocated his knee cap as he attempted to steer our inter-locked group from dangerous areas of the river. In my opinion, George took safety to the extreme which actually made our second time cave tubing less fun in my opinion. But, George was doing his job, and it sounds like you would have really enjoyed the level of safety George gave us that you did not receive on your trip.

 

That said, George aside, we ended up being disappointed with our "cave tubing" experience using Major Tom compared to our previous experience with XTreme. We loved the zip-lining, no complaints there. But, I extensively asked Major Tom in e-mail how many caves we would go through if we went with him and we did not end up doing what he said we would. We were part of the first tenders off the boat and arrived as early as possible and didn't have to wait for later arrivals. The problem seemed to be that Major Tom joined our group with another group from Royal Caribbean that had to be back for the last tender at 3:15 where we didn't have to be back to our last tender until 4:30. Our cave tubing experience clearly got cut short because he decided to pair us with this early leaving group as they were also wanting to do the combo. Basically, we got 1/2 of the experience cave tubing experience that we got with XTreme and at least 1/2 of the experience Major Tom said he would provide. What upset me is that I specifically asked questions about how many caves we would go through several times and his answers didn't match what we did. In hindsight, I should have went with Xtreme who we cave tubed with before or with Coral Breeze who we snorkeled with before in Belize (would have gotten two free t-shirts and two free lunches for the same price) and based on our last experience cave tubing in Belize, twice the number of caves.

 

Anyway, I plan to write a more detailed review in the coming days. I was subscribed to this thread - heck, now that I think about it I STARTED THIS THREAD - and after getting notifications of your posts about your experience and the comments others made, I felt compelled to quickly mentioned my experience which was, unfortunately, disappointing based on my previous cave tubing experience.

 

I asked about Major Tom, I experienced Major Tom, and in the future, I will avoid Major Tom. And the number of posts I've made, or reviews I've provided having nothing to do with my comments. Believe it or not, it simply boils down to not receiving the excursion that was promised.

[lawtyger]

Yeah, im sure he had this all planned out.

 

1. step up cruise critic account.

2. wait THREE YEARS!!!!

3. post bogus review of cave tubing excursion.

 

The perfect crime.

 

Maxamuus, that's exactly what I'm doing :D. I joined just under 4 years ago, decided to start this thread right before I left for my cruise, and for the last 4 years have waited, plotted and planned to make my bogus critique of my Major Tom experience perfectly occur on the unique post number of "222." Just kidding of course.

 

Conspiracy theories aside, the reality is sometimes people don't do what they promise and/or sometimes they just have a bad day or several bad days. Unfortunately, when you have only 1 day in Belize and spend $220.00 ($110.00 per person), it is very unfortunate when you are assured of one thing and then receive something different.

[Travel Angel]

Maxamuus, that's exactly what I'm doing :D. I joined just under 4 years ago, decided to start this thread right before I left for my cruise, and for the last 4 years have waited, plotted and planned to make my bogus critique of my Major Tom experience perfectly occur on the unique post number of "222." Just kidding of course.

 

Conspiracy theories aside, the reality is sometimes people don't do what they promise and/or sometimes they just have a bad day or several bad days. Unfortunately, when you have only 1 day in Belize and spend $220.00 ($110.00 per person), it is very unfortunate when you are assured of one thing and then receive something different.

 

Question comes to mind that if you had a problem with your tour, why did you not bring it to the attention of Major Tom and ask for some type of reimbursement since you did not get what you paid for and the fact that you felt he did not provide as promised in your coorespondance ? Seems to me if you want to get something fixed, you go to the source rather than make complaints on a public forum after it's too late !

 

I'm all for opinions and appreciate them, but you have been quick to advise others who you plan to use in the future merely because you did not feel the need to confront Major Tom at the time it occured for a resolution and now want to vent your frustrations to perhaps deter others from his services ! Did you ever consider emailing or calling him to discuss this ? I can only imagine that he would appreciate your review of the tour you purchased from him as well as possibly offering you something for any discrepancies you felt that he was responsible for or mislead you in someway.

[kcsooner]

I try to distinguish three things when looking for an operator amongst these posts:

1. The attraction
   
2. the service of the individual guide
   
3. and the policies of the company

So many times I see posts that talk about a great time they had and they are really talking about ziplining in Roatan or they are experiencing Dunn's River falls for the first time. Yeah those are great days, but many times it wasn't because of the tour company.

 

As for service, for sure that can vary from day to day. Who could ever expect a perfect run from every guide, every day. But a tour guide has to have way more positives than negatives to be considered good.

 

Yep, our one trip had issues. Many others report great service. The fact that other guides were helping our group said a lot. If you read my post and don't consider it with the many other posts, one would be doing themselves a dis-service.

 

Truly, it is the policies (or business as usual) of the tour company that are the most helpful to future visitors. Unless you're an insider, they can only be put together from a collection of experiences not any one trip.

 

It appears last week we have reports on three trips (ours, the one behind us, and Tyger's) and each had one guide to one bus/van. That to me is a policy to be aware of. The other companies had two guides that day.

 

It sounds like the free-for-all run down the river may be a policy of our guide not Major Tom. If it is, it is a concern everyone should weigh when deciding on an operator.

 

By the way, our group booked lunch with the tour. Several on the bus did not. So the guide decided to not stop. Even though we booked it and we were promised at the pier by Tom we would enjoy it, we didn't go. We were ready to get back, so we didn't push the issue.

 

Yes, I have emailed operator. And No, I don't think my email will make his website review section anytime soon.

[lawtyger]

Question comes to mind that if you had a problem with your tour, why did you not bring it to the attention of Major Tom and ask for some type of reimbursement since you did not get what you paid for and the fact that you felt he did not provide as promised in your correspondence ? Seems to me if you want to get something fixed, you go to the source rather than make complaints on a public forum after it's too late !

 

I'm all for opinions and appreciate them, but you have been quick to advise others who you plan to use in the future merely because you did not feel the need to confront Major Tom at the time it occured for a resolution and now want to vent your frustrations to perhaps deter others from his services ! Did you ever consider emailing or calling him to discuss this ? I can only imagine that he would appreciate your review of the tour you purchased from him as well as possibly offering you something for any discrepancies you felt that he was responsible for or mislead you in someway.

 

You know, that must be the most annoying post I have ever experienced in my almost 4 years as a Cruise Critic member.

 

You don't know me, you weren't on my excursion, you haven't read my 200+ posts in this forum, you were not privy to my numerous e-mail correspondence to Major Tom on the issue of the number of caves we would go through, and you really should go back to post number 1 and read why I started this thread.

 

If you do this, you will see that in the 3 of the 4 first posts I SPECIFICALLY was attempting to ascertain information about the VERY issue I ended up being disappointed by. You simply posting all of your assumptions and comments which are baseless and unassociated with the experience I had is just ridiculous. I neither have the time, nor the desire to analyze your 1000+ posts but I'm sure many of them were earned by interjecting yourself and your opinion in an experience you had NO involvement in.

 

There are so many things I would like to point out to you to educate you as to why I made the comment I did, but quite frankly, as annoyed as I am I'm trying to remember that my point in posting after kcsooner's experience was questioned was really to let others know that I was disappointed also - BUT FOR DIFFERENT REASONS. I am not required to educate you; and I doubt your intent is even to be educated.

 

In fact, take a look at how I started my post describing my experience with Major Tom. This is how I started my post which if you read it demonstrated that I was actually explaining to kcsooner that the problems she experienced were NOT experienced on our excursion. In case I'm confusing you Travel Angel, this essentially was a positive statement for my experience with Major Tom:

 

In many respects we experienced the exact opposite that you did (for example, our guide George inter-locked are tubes and even dislocated his knee cap as he attempted to steer our inter-locked group from dangerous areas of the river. In my opinion, George took safety to the extreme which actually made our second time cave tubing less fun in my opinion. But, George was doing his job, and it sounds like you would have really enjoyed the level of safety George gave us that you did not receive on your trip.

 

I further was careful to next point out that "we loved the zip-lining, no complaints there." Only then did I turn to the issue that disappointed us - an issue that was the basis of my post STARTING this thread, and reiterated in post 2 and throughout the thread.

 

But, I extensively asked Major Tom in e-mail how many caves we would go through if we went with him and we did not end up doing what he said we would.

 

Quite frankly, I don't need to prove or provide on this "public" forum that my opinion is supported. I'm the one that went on the excursion. I'm the one that clearly started this thread making the number of caves explored the SOLE issue I wanted more information about. If my goal was to harm Major Tom's business which it certainly is NOT, I would be going out of my way to prove my case as I do in court and provide evidence to support my position and my complaint. Even that very second typing the word "complaint," it felt odd calling it a complaint because as I have said it really was just a major disappointment that what I went to so much effort to research and verify, ended up not being the case on my particular day in Belize. Surely I can't post my experience on this "public" forum even it it involved disappointment.

 

What I don't want to happen is that my anger at YOU for your baseless questioning of my experience (or the experience of others) to get confused or applied to my excursion with Major Tom. We enjoyed the excursion with Major Tom's outfit, and enjoyed our second time cave tubing, but were disappointed for the reasons already expressed and would not use them again, because, as I said, we had a better experience with XTreme (in more ways then I've even touched upon). I utilize these forums to make decisions on who to book excursions through and read the good and the bad. The good AND the bad should be posted on this "public" forum and it certainly makes NO sense that only positive reviews or opinions can be provided by a person who experienced an excursion but was disappointed.

 

And, what the heck, since I'm wasting my time responding to you already, I guess I should go ahead and answer the following question you posed:

 

Question comes to mind that if you had a problem with your tour, why did you not bring it to the attention of Major Tom and ask for some type of reimbursement since you did not get what you paid for and the fact that you felt he did not provide as promised in your coorespondance ?

 

First, the thought of somehow getting some type of "reimbursement" back (a.k.a. ask for money back) NEVER came to mind and really is a ridiculous afterthought that apparently someone like you would consider. We saw Major Tom on two occasions, (1) at the pier when we departed (when I enthusiastically introduced myself), and (2) in the parking lot of the park as he showed genuine concern for George and his apparently dislocated knee. The thought NEVER crossed my mind or my wife's mind that we would seek reimbursement. We were simply disappointed in the number of caves based on the information we actively sought and received, but that disappointment was very much outweighed by our concern for George, and his knee, who really worked hard during our excursion.

 

I was more concerned about asking George if I could carry his tube for him or assist him in some way as he limped back explaining he had hurt this knee in the past and literally had to relocate it back into place. This concern continued throughout the bus ride back to port after which my wife generously tipped George for the two of us and I shook George's hand and sincerely told him that I really hoped he was going to be O.K. Travel Angel, you are so off base in your ridiculous comments that it really angers me because your just spout off a baseless opinion and apparently would be the type of person that would confront Major Tom and express your disappointment and ask for reimbursement. I'm happy to say, no Travel Angel, I am NOT like you and that thought would not come to mind. That is the answer to your question. Very shallow Travel Angel. Hmmm, maybe if you knew some of the facts you may have also had more concern for George than your wallet and would have done what we did and not confront Major Tom. I guess that was just one of a day's FULL OF FACTS that you were not privy to when you attempted to question my opinion and disappointment of our cave tubing experience.

 

Hopefully the time and effort I have taken to explain to you just how pointless and baseless in fact your very presumptuous post was will encourage you to earn your next 1000 posts without just commenting on things you have no idea about and could have no idea about. People will and should post their experiences on the forums. Unfortunately, it tends to be human nature to only take the time to often report the negative. We all do it. Think about how many time the average American goes out to dinner, has an enjoyable dinner, and takes the time to call the Manager over to relay the positive experience and service one received. Not often and certainly not frequently or every time they enjoyed their meal or service. The reality is, we are all much quicker to call the manager over only if something is wrong.

 

I'm happy to report that I have helped many in this forum and received help from many in this forum. I'm also happy to report that I don't recall ever posting even minor "disappointment" regarding any excursion I have done during my previous 4 cruises. Unfortunately, I have also failed to report every positive experience I have had in the form of a review, but I am quick to share my positive experiences when I come across a poster looking for an opinion. The difference between my opinion (and your presumptions, assumptions, "questions [that] come to mind") in regards to MY experience cave tubing last week is, I WAS THERE - YOU were not. Don't question me. I said what I said based on my experience and the facts of the day I experienced. Don't tell me how I should have reacted when you don't know fact one about that day in Belize.

 

And lastly, Travel Angel in case you need proof I was actually in Belize (I can just see it now, you saying "Question comes to mind, were you actually in Belize?"), and proof that unlike you, I can base and form my own opinions on my own ACTUAL experience, here's a little video for you.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzTh3wRKLZs

 

It will also show kcsooner that during our particular trip with George (and obviously Major Tom's outfit) safety was paramount and we were interlocked with George working his but off from the back of the line (I was in the last tube) - again, Travel Angel, a positive for anyone concerned with safety and considering going with Major Tom's outfit (at least if you go with George).

 

Something tells me that kcsooner actually believed me me without proof when I told her our trip was more safety oriented than what she described. Someone like you Travel Angel apparently just likes to render baseless opinions to pump up that all too precious post count. Next time, try to actually post some helpful information, whether it be positive or negative, instead of simply posting baseless, useless information questioning the integrity and experience of others during a day you had no part in.

 

I will waste no more time on you.

 

George, hope your knee gets better quickly. . . you gave it your all during our trip down the river and we really appreciated it. Our disappointment with the excursion lies elsewhere.

[Travel Angel]

Leave it to the legal dept. for a long and drawn out response and really a waste of time.... I just found it odd that if you were so disappointed in the outcome of the cave tubing portion of your tour, not being as you had been advised it was to be, why not just tell him ? I am not one that tries to get a "Refund" on things as you felt compelled to acuse me of......I am not one that is so naive that I only look at positive comments about a tour, cruiseline, etc....again as you acuse me of .....and I am certainly not one to provide invaluable info to others on the cruise boards that I have not personally experienced, again, as you so acuse me of.

 

When you become a judge and I appear before you sir, I will then pay you perhaps more respect, but as for now, I see you as nothing but someone who likes to tie up time and energy after the fact, when you could have gotten some of the negative issues surrounding your tour resolved at it's source, rather than wait until now to voice your opinion followed by the less than professional retaliation towards me !

 

BTW.... awwwww forget it, I don't want to have to fall asleep reading another long winded post of yours disputing anything I have to say, plus any addiitonal comments to you beyond this that would be a wasted post of mine in the 1k plus posts I have assisted other members on !

 

May your future cruise travels, tours and vacations be perfect in every way !

[driftwood]

It seems to me that all the concerns expressed in this thread are legitimate, that all the reported circumstances were unfortunate, and that it is possible to find things not to like. DW found the route to the caves more strenuous than she had anticipated: there is more going up and down than anyone has mentioned. In my correspondence with Major Tom, I had hoped that we would be able--as we were not limited by time, or even by days--to traverse the entire river/cave distance, which I believe has some twelve caves in several miles of water. I believe Major Tom hoped to be able to take us on a substantial portion of the distance we talked about.

 

It proved not to be possible: essentially, time is money in Belize, and survival of Belizeans is tenuous at best. The cave tubing enterprise is a highly competitive one: everyone who visits Belize either wants to go cave tubing, or ought to want to go cave tubing, as it is one of those "only place in the world to do it" situations. But as with most things in Belize, it is not in a readily accessible place--all cruiseship passengers have to be transported somehow on a round trip of seventy miles or so; all must hike for about twenty-five minutes through a patch of rainforest in an area that, compared with the flat marshlands along the coast, seems almost mountainous. It is not so strenuous as to be likely to kill anyone, but if you were not expecting it--as evidently DW was not--it is disconcerting. Once through the caves there is a large, clean, and open facility with bathrooms where one can change in privacy, and a small store for things like Coke and water and other odds and ends. All cave tubing experiences are essentially the same, and as with every other endeavor in Belize, there is a comprehensive amount of pooling of resources in order to accommodate the needs of the cruiseship passengers. The help that some of you received from some of Major Tom's competitors is NOT rare; nor has it been rare for Major Tom to help his competitors when, for example, they or their clientele have experienced medical emergencies in the field. One hand often washes the other--they all know how important it is that every passenger enjoys his experience, and that every passenger is safe at all times, and that every passenger return to his ship on time.

 

How successful they are in attaining these objectives on a day to day basis is measured at the end of each day in the amount of rice'n'beans they have on the table. And as we see even on this tiny thread, there can be few absolute guarantees--if for some reason a tour company cannot accommodate one cruiseship's tour, and offers its booked passengers to another tour provider for the day, the second tour provider will have to accept--THE SHOW MUST GO ON! even if it means that his own bookings will be, unfortunately, somewhat discommoded--two caves instead of three, perhaps, or a planned lunch curtailed. Do tour providers get spread too thin? Probably with some frequency--very few guides are able to pursue this activity professionally: the overhead is really quite high, and the tour bookings are NOT constant. And gasoline in Belize is over $5 US a gallon, and rented buses with a driver are $300 per day. The math alone is pretty overwhelming--but for us that is immaterial; we are the customers, we are the adventurers, and we are what has to be satisfied in order to build the industry.

 

Major Tom's operation is small; he and his eldest son operate it, and they have a team of their own to assist them; the odds of getting more personalized service from him are much higher than from the larger companies, but there are also issues which I am sure will be addressed on an individual basis within the week. I believe Major Tom will survive, because he has true character and great experience; but everyone should always feel free to seek resources that they feel comfortable with. I believe in Major Tom, or I would never have recommended him to you; but his operation may be as open to improvement as anyone's. The difference, I believe, is that he intends his operation to be the best, and he puts an immense amount of effort into doing so. I have seen him put an immense amount of effort into doing so. So I have swallowed any disappointments I have had--they have been, as I said, small and few--and give him the benefit of the doubt. I did not mean to seem to doubt others, and I am very sorry that their experiences were, on the whole, less enjoyable than ours.

[lawtyger]

Leave it to the legal dept. for a long and drawn out response and really a waste of time....

 

Yes, 1 out of 225 posts over 4 years intentionally became a quite lengthy post directed solely at you and your baseless uniformed statements. In my eyes, my post was time well spent on a poster such as yourself who clearly interjected himself into something they factually knew nothing about.

[lawtyger]

I did not mean to seem to doubt others, and I am very sorry that their experiences were, on the whole, less enjoyable than ours.

 

Just for the record, nothing in my post to Travel Angel was directed at you or any advice or opinions you provided in this thread.

 

It just really first burned me up to see presumptious statements like this:

 

Although I think the guide changing in front of the teen age girls was inappropriate (and I do find it hard to believe that you are not exxagerating a tad on this)

 

. . .being directed at a cruise critic member simply relaying what they experienced on THEIR tour which Travel Angel was clearly not apart of.

 

My post may have been long, but it was certainly better than baselessly and without ANY knowlege of the facts alleging someone is "exxagerating," and then "questioning" why I, or anyone else, didn't react, act, or proceed in a course of conduct that someone as inteligent as Travel Angel would have obviously pursued. The "exxagerating" and "questioning" discussed is just plain arrogant and Travel Angel needed to hear that whether he liked it or not and whether it took valuable time out of my day.

[armant]

Just a quick note to say that I am going on a 5 day w/ RCCL on Vooyager and will experience Major Tom myself next week w/ wife and 5 kids. I am very excited and will happily report back my experience. On a side note, I have both emailed Major Tom and also phoned his cell due to some complicating factors. He has been very prompt, polite and professional. I will comment on the tubing next week.

[lawtyger]

Just a quick note to say that I am going on a 5 day w/ RCCL on Vooyager and will experience Major Tom myself next week w/ wife and 5 kids. I am very excited and will happily report back my experience. On a side note, I have both emailed Major Tom and also phoned his cell due to some complicating factors. He has been very prompt, polite and professional. I will comment on the tubing next week.

 

I'm not sure if George will be healthy enough to be your guide, but if get him you will appreciate his knowledge of the rain forest, his commitment to safety, and of course his wild boar calls and "butts up" warnings.