Questions about activities in Costa Maya-Belize

[cricri7]

Hi.....I am a high school teacher from Montreal and I am in the early stages of preparing a trip with students. We want to take the cruise on the Norwegian Pearl that begins in Miami and stops in Costa Maya-Belize-and Roatan Islands.

 

Since we are financing the trip with activities, we want to the price to be as low as possible so we want to plan the stops by ourselves. We'd rather not book the activities that they propose to you on the ship.

 

Is it possible to do it by ourselves when we get off the boat at those stops? When the ship docks at those 3 places, is it possible in Costa Maya to visit the Mayan ruins by ourselves. I am a history teacher and one of my colleagues did her master thesis on the ancient civilizations from South America so we both know quite a bit about the subject.

 

In Belize and the Roatan Islands....same question...when the boat docks, are the sights near for us to visit without booking costly tours?

 

Thanks in advance for your answers!

 

PS If someone knows of another cruise that goes to historical places in February, let me know your opinion on this.

[Don Haynes]

By the time you buy international automobile insurance and renting a vehicle, you would be better off taking a bus tour. I understand you prefer doing the tour alone, it really doesn't add up financially for that luxury. Whatever American/Canadian auto insurance you have is more or less worthless in Mexico or Belize. Even if you take a chance without buying insurance, you would still pay more than the price of a bus tour to rent a vehicle or hire a cab. The ruin sites are out in the countryside thirty minutes to an hour from the ship, hiring a cab for a few hours isn't much cheaper than taking a bus tour. Furthermore, while the roads in Mexico are nice, the country roads in Belize are one lane paved, in the center with much of the road being rough gravel....

 

If you are looking to save money, do an independent excursion from the ship's pier. They are much cheaper than the excursions sold on the ship.

[flashdog_1]

Go to the ports of call board. You will see LOTS of information about arranging independent tours thru local operators, not the ship. We used David & Ivan for Costa Maya. I do not know if they are still in business (the recent hurricane damage may have cut into van payments, I don't know), both native Mayans. Ivan was actually the last baby born at the ruin before it was taken over by the gov't. Totally bi-lingual, as well. One of their wives is from the states.

 

We took the taxi (communal) to Majahual for about $2-3 each. Then met our own tours there, with no more than 9 in a group. We drove out into the bleak countryside which was being developed near the beach. There was a village enroute at which we stopped without getting out, just for Ivan to point out some things. We were able to ask him questions that I don't think we'd have been able to in a ship's tour with 40-50 people in a group. On the way back we stopped for window shopping of pineapple and mango without getting out. We were starved. We were dropped back either at the ship or at Majahual again.

 

However, since you will be accompanying minors, this might not work for you, and you'd be more comfortable with a larger tour since you probably would not have enough chaperones for the smaller vans. They will answer emails, although they said service is spotty, so it may not be immediate.

[crew mom]

I seem to recall it being a good hour or so drive to Chacchoben from the pier in Costa Maya. It was sparsely populated the entire drive and there was a military checkpoint along the way.

 

Depending how many are in your party you could probably rent a van and driver or a bus and driver.

 

Given the remote location, I, personally, would hesitate to go on my own for this one. What if your vehicle should break down? You may miss the ship and have to get to the next port on your own. Not my idea of fun :D With a ships excursion they will wait for you or arrange your transportation. I realize the odds of something going wrong is small, but....... JMO

[CanadianTwosome]

I HIGHLY recommend Victor Bodden in Roatan. You pay a base fare and they basically chauffeur you around all day. The drivers are very knowledgeable and follow your agenda, not theirs. Victor also has a small zipline at his home, where you can see some animals and play with monkeys. The ziplining isn't as high as some of the others, but it's less expensive and you still get the same basic effect. (plus the monkeys!)

 

We had a party of 13 on the Pearl in January, and we split up into four vans, depending on who wanted to do what, and everyone came back with great experiences, raving about their driver. 11 of us also met up at Anthony's Key Resort and had a fantastic dolphin encounter - the best my family has experienced so far, because not only did we learn more about the animals, but they are actually allowed to swim free outside of the enclosure, so there was no question that they wanted to be there. :)

 

One warning - if you DO want to go to Anthony's Key, they have an arrangement with the cruise lines and do not generally book cruise passengers privately. I spent months exchanging emails with the concierge at one of the hotels, who guaranteed me that we had a reservation, but when we arrived at the hotel to pick up our information, we were informed that Anthony's Key does not allow that and the concierge was nowhere to be found and not answering her phone!! :eek: We had our driver take us all to Anthony's Key and fortunately for us, they sympathized with us and were able to book us all for later in the day. (and were planning to speak to the concierge about it!!)

 

Since Anthony's Key is an educational resort, if this is something that interests you, it might be worth contacting them as a student group and seeing if they would accommodate you for something 'more' than the standard dolphin encounter. When my friend and I went inside to change, we walked past a classroom where there was a lecture going on, and it appeared to be very well presented. If I weren't so addicted to cruising, I would definitely consider a land holiday at the resort. :)

[Toyz711]

lamania would be another choice for a history lover...it's in belize..BUT it's hard to get to. i (and most people) recommend the ship's tours for this excursions. it's an hour bus ride to a river boat, then an hour (on the river) to the mayan site. plus belize is a tender site, the ship doesn't dock. with all of that, it was a FULL day excursions.

the site is great, right out of Indiana Jones..surrounded by jungle, howler monkeys in the tree. the actual site is not all falling down and in ruins, like some mayan sites..it's been well preserved by the jungle and the lack of tourists.

http://www.belizeexplorer.com/cgi-local/explorer.cgi?db=explorer&uid=default&Category=Mayan+Sites&view_records=1&nh=6&mh=1

do check out the port of call board, several local vendors are reviewed.

[tiggerfan616]

I would eco CT's recommendation on Victor we had nothing but praises for him and his drivers. We had a party of 10 and he accomidated all of our requests when we were there in January.