cavetubing. bz

[CMJFamily]

Which company serves lunch out of a house? Don't really want that....ARe the other lunches from restaurants?

[doctordi]

I used .com with Yhony about 18 months ago and had a great time. I felt well cared for and safe the entire time. Transportation was in a nice bus. I'm taking my children on this trip in a few weeks and I feel very comfortable with this decision. We were linked up and had one guide for every 4-5 people so there was no way anyone was going to get away from the group. I can't wait!

 

Lunch was home cooked and served at the ATV site. They had beer for sale also. Simple light lunch of chicken tamales - good and hot (with heat, not spicy). I'm not sure that there are many restaurants in the area - it seemed pretty remote.

[AWCHIEF]

Sailing in April with family of 5, kids 10,12,15. Both vendors seem to have good reviews. I'd appreciate any additional feedback on either of these tour guides.

 

This is a review of my experience with Cavetubing.Com. I went last week while visiting Belize on the Carnival Triumph. I would like to have some nice things to say about the operation of this company but I cannot.

To start, I was told to be at the meeting place at 9:15 or 10:00 AM. I was in the first tender off the ship and was shaking hands with the owner by 8:30 and was directed to a bar to wait for the others to show up. About 10 minutes later I was told to go to an awaiting van containing 6 others to go to the site. After boarding I asked if this was the entire tour group, I was told that we were going to meet up with a bus that had already left. After racing thru the back streets of Belize City for 20 minutes we were pulled over by a motorcycle policeman who proceeded to lecture the driver about stopping at police check points. This took a good 5 minutes. It seems that the driver had blown thru a check point leaving the cruise port. We had to return to the check point before we would be allowed to proceed on our way. We went back to the port, went thru the check point, where the driver again was lectured by woman counting heads in each vehicle leaving the port. This process took so long that it was determined that we could no longer catch the first bus.

We returned to the original starting point and were told to get on another bus that was ready to leave. Not so, the bus was still waiting for more customers to arrive. After another 20 minutes several more customers arrived and we were on our way, we thought. At this point we had already been waiting, on vans and buses for about an hour plus. After taking another 20 minutes racing thru the streets of the city we finally got on the road to the cave site. In about 30 minutes the bus pulls over to the side of the road, no explanation from the driver on what was going on. 5 minutes later he gets back on board and says that we are ourselves waiting for another group to catch up with us. 20 minutes later they pull up and get on board.

It was another 40 minutes to the site. It took a total of almost 3 hours to make the 40 minute trip to the cave site. Many in my original group had planned to do both the ATV ride and the cave tubing but do the delays in even getting to the site decided that there was just not enough time to do both. Some opted to only do one of the adventures. I settled on the cave tubing and did not do the ATV ride. After dropping off the ATV riders the bus proceeded on to the cave site.

Once we got there, more confusion by the guides. Never did figure out what was going on, as we were not told. We finally were given our tubes and sent on our way up the trail to the jump off point to the cave. Once arriving at the site we were all given head lights. We were not given helmets and that was a bit disconcerting as all the other tour groups had them. Finally we were ready to start our cave tubing adventure along with a couple of hundred other tourists. All the tour guided seemed to be trying to get all the people in the water at the same time and at the same 20 feet of river side. After entering the first cave all the groups starting crowding each other out and were being pushed by the guides as the water was so low and no one could just float. For the entire time inside the cave it was a mass of people all jumbled together, being pushed and pulled by the guides whose only purpose seemed to be, to get the customers thru as quickly as possible. After exiting the cave we were dragged a couple of hundred more yards where we got out of the water and walked back to the starting point, boarded the bus and returned to Belize City.

A total lack of communication between the employees seems to have been the cause of all the problems we had. I do not know if my experience is common to the way this company does business on a daily basis, I would certainly hope not. Would I recommend them to my friends, I think not.

[ccbmom]

I appreciate you coming here to post about your experience. It doesn't sound like a very good one! Did you at least enjoy the tubing experience? Or was it just so rushed and chaotic on the river that it wasn't fun? Do you think the water is too low right now to even be doing it?

 

The transportation issue is my greatest concern as it sounds like a mess.

[CMJFamily]

Now I am worried about cavetubing dot com!! Any other feedback? We reserved but didn't have to pay a deposit. Has anyone just gone ashore and chose a tour right there? I was wondering if we could just see who was leaving the quickest and go with them?

[AWCHIEF]

I appreciate you coming here to post about your experience. It doesn't sound like a very good one! Did you at least enjoy the tubing experience? Or was it just so rushed and chaotic on the river that it wasn't fun? Do you think the water is too low right now to even be doing it?

 

The transportation issue is my greatest concern as it sounds like a mess.

 

Over all it just left a bad taste in my mouth for this outfit. I have read many reviews of them here and on TripAdvisor that praised them. So maybe they were just having a bad day. The crowding, pushing and the rush by the guides to get us thru the cave did not make for an enjoyable experience at all. It was plainly just too many people trying to do the same thing at the same time. I am very easy to please and it is rare that I post any bad reviews here or anywhere else. I do think that the water is too low at this time to call it a "float". It is my understanding that it is the dry season in Belize now. Also the method of hooking each others feet under the arm pits of the person ahead is very uncomfortable when the person behind is wearing hard "Teva" sandals, as was the person behind me. I would guess that anyone considering using them for a tour can make up their own mind after reading several of the reviews. I will admit that my review is maybe the most negative that I have seen of this outfit, but this is how I felt about the overall experience.

[Mack2]

.bz serves lunch out of a house if I'm not mistaken...that's not my gig but I also don't know where .com's lunch is coming from.

 

I went with .bz when we did our cave-tubing tour.

After the tour, they had a cooler full of soda and beer. I got to try the Belize beer, Belican (I think it's Belican, right?)

 

anyway.

 

We drove to the area where we were going to have lunch, it was like... a picnic area, on the side of the road. Looked like a family picnic. Simple tables set up with styrofoam plates.

The food was being cooked/warmed in a big kettle over a stove.

 

We had plantains, rice&beans, and chicken.

 

Plantains were sweet, rice&beans were really good... I don't know whether it was because we had just hiked and tubed... but it tasted GREAT... I think they cooked it with coconut milk or something. Chicken was fall-off-the-bone tender... but there were bones...

 

Definitely not "restaurant" food, more rustic and home-made... for me, it added to the adventure... Of course, Hepatitis is something to worry about, but the food was hot and not undercooked.

 

I really liked it... I would go again... and eat again... Not much of a selection, but every ethnic group does a rice&beans+chicken... it's hard to screw that up.

 

Bring Purell.

 

edit:

I would also like to add the fact that there were two people in our group that did not want to eat at all. One of the people in that couple as a travel agent, and she wanted to grab food at the pier. They didn't ask her to pay the $5 for the food, but the couple kind've rushed everyone else through the pit stop to get back to the pier... We were hungry, though, and even my kids enjoyed the food quickly, even grabbing some extra grub for the rest of the ride back to town.

[Lake-Cruiser]

Funny..we just sailed with our three kids...same exact ages! We did the cavetubing with cavetubing.bz...had Jr and Jorge. With other family members we were a party of 10...had a great time! Bottled water on the way...gave us a lot of info. The hike is really more like 45 min-1 hour..but was fine. Tubing was fun...stopped for meal at Vitalino's restaurant..food was good. Rum punch was great. Back to the tender in time. It was several in our group's favorite day. Well worth the price. Always felt like we were well taken care of and definately never in danger.

We just got back from Belize and used cave-tubing.bz. It was great!!!!! They took very good care of us and we had Vitalino in our van. He told us so much about Belize. The food at his house was soooo good, we had seconds. We never worried about getting back to the ship on time. I would use this excursion if I were you. It was well worth the price!!!!!

[mick886]

Just got off the triumph as well on Saturday.We went with cavetubing.com, and had a great time.

Yhony sent an email confirmation within an hour or two. He said there would be two buses the 1st at 9:15 and the 2nd at 10. We were concerned with tender sticker 11, that we would not make it. Keep in mind that the # on your tender sticker doesn't mean that we were on the 11th tender. It's just a group #. So,With # 11, we were on the 5th tender(called at appr 9:15). Got to the pier in Belize at 9:55.

Met Yhony outside at 10:00 and was sent in a taxi to meet up with others on the tour. We met Byron aka Avatar appr 15 mins later, waited 2 more mins for another group and off we went for a 35 mile ride to the ATV site. We were all doing the ATV and cave tubing combo($75.00 cash, pay at the end. No deposit required). He told us quite a bit about the island and what to expect on the tour.

Got to the ATV site and given brief instruction on riding. My kids 13 and 15 have never ridden before and had no problem handling them. I wish the ride was a little longer, it seemed to be over rather quickly.

We were given time to change into the clothes we wanted to get wet, and again off to the tube site(appr 15 min ride). LOTs of people at the site. I did not expect to see all the different tour companies at the same place at the same time. We were given our headlights, tubes(big, new and yellow). We were offered helmets, but it was hot(appr 90) so Byron advised us not to use them, and none of us did. It was about a 30 min hike through the trails and we crossed the river twice before getting to the site. Once there we were linked with feet under the arms of the person in front of you. It was a bit uncomfortable, but seemed to be the best way to keep us all together. The river is low in spots, so you need to lay as flat as you can on the tube at times(butts up!).

We were out of the water at appr 1:15 and on the van by 1:30 to go back to the ATV site to eat. Tamales were free and soda, water, beer for a fee.

On the road back to the pier by 2:00, plenty of time to get some shopping in.

We had a great time on this excursion and I hope this review helps.

[DAP2]

mick886,

 

That was a very helpful review.

 

Do you recall what time they started passing out tender tickets versus what time your family was put together and went to pick one up?

 

How were the tamales, did you try them? Were they served out of a commerical type kitchen? Did you see any concerns with food safety? Was anyone eating food (pre-packaged snacks) that they had brought with them? I don't want to offend if I do that. I keep getting confused about if .com is the same as the .bz that serves the food out of their house. That kind of weirds us out!

[Valmoisy]

We just returned from our cruise aboard the Norwegian Pearl and used belizecruiseexcursionsdotcom (Island Marketing Ltd) for cavetubing in Belize - big mistake.

 

Our tourguide Chris was not very good, nor was he very knowledgable. After a 1 hour drive to the caves we were told to change and then leave our stuff in the van. We were then given an old black tube, headlight and lifejacket and told to follow Chris. As we started to leave the parking area someone noticed that Chris had left the van open so Chris went back to lock it. Again we started heading our and Chris told us to wait so he could go find another guide. After another wait we headed out and were rushed through the rainforest. Other groups were stopping to look around and take pictures but we were rushed through and told to keep up with the group. When we got to the first stream Chris told us we could jump off the rock into the water if we wanted. A couple of people jumped in and then my husband and daughter jumped in. Before my husband and daughter could retrieve their tubes our group went on without us. After catching up with our group we finished rushing through the forest and jumped into the river and were on our own. We weren't connected to anyone in our group nor were we told to hold onto each other. Our tour guide went on ahead of us and didn't offer any further help other than to occassionally yell at us to keep paddling. We weren't given any information about the caves or when we were going to hit shallow areas or rapids or anything. It didn't seem too safe paddling through a dark cave alone, which is what the excursion turned out to be. Toward the end of the excursion our guide Chris actually got out of the water and walked the rest of the way while we paddled along alone.

 

While paddling along I noticed other groups were very organized and relaxed and were getting a lot of information about what they were seeing and how they should proceed. The best group that I saw that day seemed to be cave-tubingdotbz.

 

I know this is a very negative post but the excursion provided by belizecruiseexcursions was a very negative experience.

 

Maura

[mick886]

They told us tender tickets would start being passed out at 8:00 I was walking on deck 5 to get my ticket by 7:55 and there were already people with zone 7 walking by me. Here s a tip though, and I saw it work several times not only for Belize, but for other tender ports I've traveled to. If you get a high tender zone #, and you don't think you will make it in time for your excursion. Simply walk down to deck 1(usually this is where someone is checking #s) and let them know your late for an excursion, or your meeting someone at the pier at a certain time. In all cases I witnessed, they will let you down to zero deck to the tender. I wouldn't bet my paycheck on it, but it seems to work.

 

The tamales were good. There is no kitchen there, but they were served hot. I am a very fussy eater, and it was a first for me eating tamales. I enjoyed it, and the employees were eating them so I felt safe doing so.

 

I am sure you will not offend anyone if you bring something with you. There is nothing else to purchase for food other than chips.

[nomoredyess]

Cavetubing.bz is awesome!!! We used them last week, and if we ever go to Belize, we will def use them again!!!!

 

Not sure which ship u are on, but we were on Legend and there were no tickets for the tender......We had to be down in the lounge at 745....When there was a gap in Carnival excursions (there was after about 20 minutes or so), they sent all of the individuals tourists down to get on a tender

[Halya50]

We had the absolute pleasure of using the bz one with Vitalino Reyes a couple of weeks ago. There were 7 of us. From the very instant they met us in their new air conditioned vehicles it was a blast.

Our guide Manuel was awesome and very, very informative about both Belize and during our hike about all plant life.

We were never rushed, the cave tubing was awesome, would do it again in a heart beat.

We even got an excellent meal of chicken with rice, coleslaw and plantains, with incredible rum punch, all included in the price.

I highly, highly recommend using this company for your tubing, they are number 1 for a reason!

Was one of our highlights of the week!

[Cruzin Fool]

We used BZ on March 2nd. They met us right outside the Terminal 1 doors as promised. Vitalino was there and greeted us. He handed us off to Fabulouso (nickname) and Jose. We were a group of 8 so they gave us our own private tour van. It was fairly new and the A/C worked wonderfully. While we were loading in our van they gave us nice cold bottled waters and had more in the van for us. Fabulouso drove and told us all about what we were seeing through Belize City and on the way to the Cave Tubing site. Both guides had great personalities and we absolutely enjoyed having them lead us. The tubes that BZ uses are the new yellow ones with the built in handles. We saw the other groups with the inner-tubes and were thankfull we didn't have to use them!

 

Fabulouso placed us in two side by side rows of four and tied the tubes with a rope so he could pull us along through the caves. He warned us about BUTTS UP and joked about Crocologs and sticksnakes. He made it very clear to everyone that there were no dangers in the water... We didn't have any small children in our group so nobody was worried either way.

 

We were given life vests and helmets with LED lights on them. This was a major benefit compared to the other groups we saw that had regular lights on the helmets. Our lights were much brighter and we could see far better than the others. Compared to other groups it was clear we had the better guides. On the way to the river Fabulouso made many stops telling us about the trees and flowers. He even pointed out Leaf Cutting ants, pineapples and the black orchid which is the only orchid known to bloom year round.

 

When we were done tubing they brought us to Vitalino's place to eat. I don't recall it being a house like some others were speculating in earlier posts. Just a well built and maintained place to serve food and store the company vehicles. Ther is a pic of it in the link below. We were served chicken with rice, cole slaw and plantains. We had the choice of sodas or rum punch. The best part is you could have as much as you wish... After comparing experiences with others on the ship who used different tour operators it was very clear we had made the right choice with cavetubing.bz. Heck, on the way back we passed two different broken down busses from another COMpany. Can only imagine how their days went... The slogan on the back of their bus is "Butts-Up." Guess that means get your butts up and get out of the bus, a new one will be here in about an hour.

 

Here's a link to our pics on Facebook. We did the Zip-Line / Cave-Tubing combo... This was everyone's favorite day of the cruise!

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183359&id=1350317120&l=046c8df589

[BurntOrangeBoat]

Just returned yesterday from the 3/6 sailing of Voyager. I feel like I owe Vitalino, Jorge and Manuel this review. Cavetubing.bz

 

My family of four(children are 9 and 12) did the cavetubing and ziplining combo. It was fantastic. Do get off the ship as early as possible. When exiting the pier area, I almost walked straight into Jorge as he was right there. ( I was concerned that they might be hard to find, but it could not have been easier)

 

After the group was rounded up (we were matched up with another group going on the cavetubing excursion), we drove out to the nature preserve where the excursions are hosted. Again, Manuel and Jorge are very friendly and will answer any and all questions about their country and point out items of local significance during the trip. I will mention that the AC was a little weak in the back of the van. Their company responded by bringing out another van to meet us in the excursion area. I give them a huge + for the positive response to a minor issue. We met Vitalino at the excursion area.

 

We ziplined first. BTW, there are several tour groups that work together to run/bring tourists to this course. There could be lines, but really they moved quickly. I thought the ziplining might be just a nice little extra. It was fantastic. We returned to the tube area to get our tubes and helmets. The tubes were new. The small kid tubes are the older variety. My younger one used the older tube. I enjoyed the hike/walk to the beginning of the tube ride. Manuel showed us many plants along the way and explained their medicinal value and importance to Mayan culture.

 

The cavetubing was also very good. Shallow in areas, yes. Its nature and it is part of the experience. We tube in Texas every year, but never through a cave.

 

The walk back to the van is much shorter from the river exit. We headed to the Lunch hut where the meal was as described. Chicken with rice + beans. The children were served soda, the adults the rum punch. The rum punch was excellent. I also took the opportunity to drink some of the local beer, Belikin. They offered more food if we were hungry, but for us, the meal hit the spot after the excursion. The lunch is served in a really nice pavillion that if I understood correctly is just outside of Vitalino's home.

 

One last stop, the grocery store for a 12 pack of Belikins with plenty of time to spare.

 

Other items:

1. The sky opened up and poured for about 20 minutes on the 4 of us + Manuel between the ziplining and tubing.

2. English is the official language although Spanish is very common. Jorge and Manuel spoke both fluently.

3. Very small gift shop/table of goods at the lunch. We did purchase a bottle of Pecan wine.

4. With regards to your reservation, your word is your bond. Vitalino does not ask for a credit card when you reserve.

 

Final verdict: highly recommended.

[jdg22]

I booked with Major tom last October and had a great time- the tour guides were great and informative (and fun!) the price was right, and the excursion was the best we ever done. Highly recommend.

[papilliontraveler]

Just got back from the Glory and we used cavetubingdotcom. Very professional and informative. They even gave us beer, cashew wine, water and lunch with the $49 pp price.

Highly recommend them. Richard was our guide.

[mikel24m]

Thanks so mucjh everyone for your experiences.We went with .bz .They were the highest rated on trip advisor plus they do not require a deposit like some do

[dabeers1]

Thanks everyone for the great info. Great pics, Cruzin Fool!

 

Rich, did the bz van stop at the grocery store for you to purchase the 12-pack of Belikin? Was yours the only group in the van? I'm planning to do the exact same thing and was hoping I wouldn't have to walk all the way into town to get a 12 pack.

[Rusty2192]

We used BZ on March 2nd. They met us right outside the Terminal 1 doors as promised. Vitalino was there and greeted us. He handed us off to Fabulouso (nickname) and Jose. We were a group of 8 so they gave us our own private tour van. It was fairly new and the A/C worked wonderfully. While we were loading in our van they gave us nice cold bottled waters and had more in the van for us. Fabulouso drove and told us all about what we were seeing through Belize City and on the way to the Cave Tubing site. Both guides had great personalities and we absolutely enjoyed having them lead us. The tubes that BZ uses are the new yellow ones with the built in handles. We saw the other groups with the inner-tubes and were thankfull we didn't have to use them!

 

Fabulouso placed us in two side by side rows of four and tied the tubes with a rope so he could pull us along through the caves. He warned us about BUTTS UP and joked about Crocologs and sticksnakes. He made it very clear to everyone that there were no dangers in the water... We didn't have any small children in our group so nobody was worried either way.

 

We were given life vests and helmets with LED lights on them. This was a major benefit compared to the other groups we saw that had regular lights on the helmets. Our lights were much brighter and we could see far better than the others. Compared to other groups it was clear we had the better guides. On the way to the river Fabulouso made many stops telling us about the trees and flowers. He even pointed out Leaf Cutting ants, pineapples and the black orchid which is the only orchid known to bloom year round.

 

When we were done tubing they brought us to Vitalino's place to eat. I don't recall it being a house like some others were speculating in earlier posts. Just a well built and maintained place to serve food and store the company vehicles. Ther is a pic of it in the link below. We were served chicken with rice, cole slaw and plantains. We had the choice of sodas or rum punch. The best part is you could have as much as you wish... After comparing experiences with others on the ship who used different tour operators it was very clear we had made the right choice with cavetubing.bz. Heck, on the way back we passed two different broken down busses from another COMpany. Can only imagine how their days went... The slogan on the back of their bus is "Butts-Up." Guess that means get your butts up and get out of the bus, a new one will be here in about an hour.

 

Here's a link to our pics on Facebook. We did the Zip-Line / Cave-Tubing combo... This was everyone's favorite day of the cruise!

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183359&id=1350317120&l=046c8df589

 

I noticed in some of your pictures that some people just strap on sandals instead of the traditional "water shoe." How did the sandals work out? I have a comfortable pair that I like to wear in when I'm out in my kayak and would much prefer to just use them instead of going out and buying water shoes just for this cave tubing.

[BurntOrangeBoat]

Thanks everyone for the great info. Great pics, Cruzin Fool!

 

Rich, did the bz van stop at the grocery store for you to purchase the 12-pack of Belikin? Was yours the only group in the van? I'm planning to do the exact same thing and was hoping I wouldn't have to walk all the way into town to get a 12 pack.

 

On the return trip, my family was the only one in a van. The stop only took 5 minutes as this a very small store . I don't think it would be a problem even if their was a group.

 

As a note, you might want to bring a sturdy bag. From what I was told and saw, Belikin is only sold in singles. There is no 12-pack packaging.

[dabeers1]

Thanks Rich. I already have a couple 6-pack cardboard carriers ready to go. I figure I can re-use them for each island I visit.

 

Cheers,

Mike

[chesseheadcruiser]

We used BZ on March 2nd. They met us right outside the Terminal 1 doors as promised. Vitalino was there and greeted us. He handed us off to Fabulouso (nickname) and Jose. We were a group of 8 so they gave us our own private tour van. It was fairly new and the A/C worked wonderfully. While we were loading in our van they gave us nice cold bottled waters and had more in the van for us. Fabulouso drove and told us all about what we were seeing through Belize City and on the way to the Cave Tubing site. Both guides had great personalities and we absolutely enjoyed having them lead us. The tubes that BZ uses are the new yellow ones with the built in handles. We saw the other groups with the inner-tubes and were thankfull we didn't have to use them!

 

Fabulouso placed us in two side by side rows of four and tied the tubes with a rope so he could pull us along through the caves. He warned us about BUTTS UP and joked about Crocologs and sticksnakes. He made it very clear to everyone that there were no dangers in the water... We didn't have any small children in our group so nobody was worried either way.

 

We were given life vests and helmets with LED lights on them. This was a major benefit compared to the other groups we saw that had regular lights on the helmets. Our lights were much brighter and we could see far better than the others. Compared to other groups it was clear we had the better guides. On the way to the river Fabulouso made many stops telling us about the trees and flowers. He even pointed out Leaf Cutting ants, pineapples and the black orchid which is the only orchid known to bloom year round.

 

When we were done tubing they brought us to Vitalino's place to eat. I don't recall it being a house like some others were speculating in earlier posts. Just a well built and maintained place to serve food and store the company vehicles. Ther is a pic of it in the link below. We were served chicken with rice, cole slaw and plantains. We had the choice of sodas or rum punch. The best part is you could have as much as you wish... After comparing experiences with others on the ship who used different tour operators it was very clear we had made the right choice with cavetubing.bz. Heck, on the way back we passed two different broken down busses from another COMpany. Can only imagine how their days went... The slogan on the back of their bus is "Butts-Up." Guess that means get your butts up and get out of the bus, a new one will be here in about an hour.

 

Here's a link to our pics on Facebook. We did the Zip-Line / Cave-Tubing combo... This was everyone's favorite day of the cruise!

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183359&id=1350317120&l=046c8df589

Love your pics Cruzin Fool! I think I am doing this same cruise on 4-17-11. Leaving from New Orleans and going to Belize, Costa Maya, Roatan and Cozumel. It's my 1st cruise with my 14 and 16 year old daughters. They want to do the cave tubing and I think I will go with the same company you did. Where were you with all the monkeys? My girls would get a kick out of that. Any other suggestions for excursions would be greatly appreciated.

[megmno]

What do you do with your stuff while you are tubing? Should I get a waterproof pouch for cash/passports and bring them with us?

Thinking about using .com in August...