best cave tubing company?

I have seen several companies mentioned on the boards and was wondering which was best or if there were any to stay away from. The sites I saw were *****, cave-tubing.com, *****. Please let me know your thoughts or if there is a better company not listed. Thanks!

We were in Belize last Thurs, did cave tubing with Nacho and his wife Cynthia. We e-mailed back and forth, agreed on the price, he is very specific with details and what the differences can be. He was also very specific about how to find him when you get to the port, you are tendered in, but once off the tender you are funneled to 1 door. Was not a problem, we finally asked some of the other tour people and they directed us around the corner where Nacho was standing with a sign. Due to mechanical problems with his other van Cynthia was our only guide that day. She is a wonderful lady. The tour started with info on Belize and the country side, the ride to the resort is about an hour. The bumpy road is not as bad as in other posts. You can see info on the resort at jaguarpaw.com. Nice facility to change clothes if need be. You pick your tubes up there and the walk to the river is about 20 minutes, easy walk. Time for pictures along the way. The guide from the resort will have a dry bag for cameras when you get to the river. A resort dog, Lucky accompanied us onthe walk. My husband was unaware that she swam the river with us and when he felt her come by him freaked out, was one of the funniest moments of the whole cruise. The one down side to this tour is that we were only in the river about 25 minutes. I understood this, the river level was higher due to rain which causes it to run faster. You arrive back at the resort, no walk. Lunch was wonderful, there is a bar for those who wish to imbibe. We got to tour the butterfly farm, very neat, and see one of the resort rooms. The resort is surrounded by the jungle, beautiful. Cynthia will take you to downtown Belize to shop if there is time, much cheaper then at the port. I would highly recommend this tour.

We were in Belize last Tuesday, the 15th, and booked cave tubing with cave-tubing.com. Yhony and his sons took good care of us, and you won't go wrong with this company. If we ever go back to Belize we plan to look them up. One of his 2 sons had worked for a cruise ship tour company and was very knowledgeable of the area and gave us a lot of historical information. We will always remember Yhony, Junior and Timmy. We felt they were super.

Ah... well about a month ago I was asking myself the same exact question!! I had it narrowed down to coral breezes, ***** and xtreme. I got so wrapped up in trying to pick a company that we finally just said WHATEVER! We ended up going with x-treme.

We went through several caves (two or three; sad that I can't seem to remember the number right now LOL!!!). It was a pretty brisk day and some of the currents were swift - it was fun though. Just remember to keep your butt up when told to do so LOL!! Oh yeah - our tour guide did not 'chain' us together. (Our guide gave us the option and we decided against it.) Every other tour group that we saw (except for one other group) was linked together. Also, we definitely had one of the longest tours. Many other groups passed us on the river.

SO - my suggestion is to read the comments everyone has posted and then pick one. Oh yeah, one suggestion that I do have for you is if you want to squeeze some shopping in, it might be wise to try one of the other operators. There wasn't any time left for that by the time we got back. (Again, maybe others who have used Xtreme had a different experience.)

My husband loved this excursion and I really liked it too. If we ever find ourselves back in Belize again we will most likely do the cave tubing again. However i wouldn't be totally against trying a different vendor. We liked Xtreme, and we feel we got our $$ worth, but I would certainly be willing to give someone else a try.

double post! oops

We just returned from the Legend of the Seas. I had done alot of research for excursions and found this tour of the cave tubing to be the most comfortable. We paid alittle more than some and about the same as others, but the benefits out weight the cost. Nacho takes extra good care of you by stopping roadside to take photos. we were able to get great pictures of the Sleeping Giant mountain. This is a must see!

When you arrive at the tube site he is able to drive right past the Govermental area and park at the Jaguar resort. you can roam thru the resort touring thier facilites seeing the butterflys and birds. You are free to use the nice clean restrooms and after you walk less distance than others do and tube this magnificant river you are treated to dine inside the resort in air conditioning with real tables, silverwear, china plates and tablecloths. We saw the other groups carrying tubes up hills and eating outside with flys, paper plates and plastic forks. We had time to go into the city with Nacho and his crew escorting us thru the shops. Found some extra nice things for cheap! It was a wonderful time! Well worth the little extra. He will entertain you with riddles and his extensive knowledge of the country is very interesting.

we will return I am certain and I would want to use Nacho again.

This company is fantastic...all the great reviews about Yhony and his crew are all true!!If you want to do cave tubing in Belize...he's the man.We went yesterday and had a blast.This is unsolicated atta boy for those guys.You have to be in decent shape to get to the caves--->across a river-->walk for approx 40 mins on uneven ground....well worth it

I've booked Yhony's cave tubing for January 4th. My husband and I have 3 kids 8, 11 and 14. We're not in excellent shape, ourselves, will this be really strenuous. Also, is it too tough for an 8 yr. old. We figured we'd bring a lightweight rope and tie her tube to ours!!

Thanks for the info.

Just back from Carnival Valor, we booked with Major Tom from ***** and had an AWESOME experience. I cant say enough about how great Tom was at accomodating our group. We even had a pregnant woman with our group of 17 & he made sure to assign a guide to her at all times for extra attention. Tom had 4 guides accompany our group compared to the 1 guide per each 20 people with the ship's groups. I highly recommend them and the BBQ lunch on site is the best $5 meal you'll ever buy!

Shanta

Stacybbb,

We also had a 9 year old boy in our group. He did fine. Your 8 year old should be fine. The river was high due to recent rains in the area so crossing the river was tricky, our guides walked him across sitting in his tube. The hike was pretty easy although a little slippery in some spots, again due to recent rains.

We were on the NCL Sun that departed on 11/13. I had the same issues, who to take? We opted to go with http://www.cave-tubing.com and we were very pleased with our choice. Yhony, Junior, Tigre and Timmy were fantastic and very entertaining. Yhony had great communication and was very quick to respond by email. They took good care of us, and it was head and shoulders better than what was offered as cruise excursions for half the price. You don't pay Cave-Tubing.com until after the excursion. We took a ride out to the park and then started the trek to the river. Very interesting part of the trip. To be fair, I feel I have to mention you must cross a river on the way to the caves. The river is rushing pretty good and you have to go hand-over-hand in waist deep water AND carry your tube. If you can't cross and carry your tube, which I not afraid to mention I couldn't, the Cave-Tubing.com guys are more than willing to help. Don't be a hero - give up your tube and use both hands to cross the river. We hiked past where the cruise ship excursions went in the river and subsequently saw 3 caves instead of 2, and had the one cave all to ourselves. Yhony and crew linked our tubes up, and we created 6-7 person "snakes." Each snake had a guide and it worked out great. Eventually we met up with the cruise ship cave tubers and I couldn't believe what I saw. Chaos! All those folks were floating solo with few guides and no idea what they were doing. In fact, Yhony and Junior had to maneuver us around the other tubers and help a few of them that were floating lost. Unbelieveable. We were so much better off - and did I mention half the price? We floated on down the river some more and then got out for the ride back. We got back to the dock with plenty of time to have a beer and do a little shopping. Overall a fantastic experience and we'd use them again. Very safe and plenty of guides for our group. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Yhony, Junior, Tigre and Timmy. Thanks, guys! It was our best excursion during the cruise. Let me know if you need any other info! Have fun in Belize!

We went with Wet & Wild, our guide was "Charlie" what a great guy, very knowledgable of the Country, the Rain Forest, and knows the caves very good! we did two caves and a dry one, the price was a lot cheaper than the ship, lunch was also included.

 

Enjoy your cruise and enjoy cave tubing it is great!:D

www.belizeshoretours.com

otherwise known as Wet & Wild Cavetubing. They were great, informative, timely, personalble, funny, and we had the choice to jump from a cliff into the water adding some extra excitement, plus we acually went through 4 caves!!!

Just back from Carnival Valor, we booked with Major Tom from ***** and had an AWESOME experience. I cant say enough about how great Tom was at accomodating our group. We even had a pregnant woman with our group of 17 & he made sure to assign a guide to her at all times for extra attention. Tom had 4 guides accompany our group compared to the 1 guide per each 20 people with the ship's groups. I highly recommend them and the BBQ lunch on site is the best $5 meal you'll ever buy!

Shanta

Do you have any other good tips, we are going on same cruise and want to know what to do on the islands

We went cave tubing with Yhony and Junior (and 2 other guides) on November 24. We had a group of 23, ranging in age from 5 to 75. We had a wonderful time. We were glad we checked this board, which convinced us they were the best company. They kept a special eye on the kids and senior citizens on the river. Yhony and Junior made our time on the bus very enjoyable. They were both funny and informative and seemed to really enjoy what they were doing. I especially liked the fact that the didn't ask for tips, which seems unusual. When I gave them a nice tip, Yhony seems sincerely grateful. I'm sure given all their costs, they don't make a lot of money on this, compared to the companies that charge up to double. Cave tubing is all that they do, and they certainly do it right. You won't be disappointed!

BTW, green apples are impossible to get in Belize. We had a few we brought off the ship. There eyes lit up when we gave them the apples.

I booked with *****, with Dennis, and after we met him at the port, we then carried on to the caves. Dennis was a very good tour guide and he sure showed us a wonderful time and would do it again for sure, so you can book with Dennis and have some real fun. If you wanted to jump from the cliff, you can do so. Book with *****

Tad

We did the Kids Cave Tubing tour with Cruiseexpeditions.com last week. Our guide was Junior and he was just great. The whole reason we went with an outisde group is because RCI had an age limit our kids did not meet. Junior was great with the kids, despite the fact that the river was really runnig fast due to a recent tropical storm. It was an adventure we'll not soon forget!

Would highly recommend Tom & Tom Jr. from cavetubing.net. They were very professional and knowledgeable and provide a safe & fun trip. Check out their site and see if you are interested.

Regards,

Cory Lynn

The bumpy road is not as bad as in other posts.

That is because the governent of Belize began resurfacing the roads and that project was well under way when we were there on 12.14.05. I am glad the road was not soo bumpy :)

Amanda

Highly recommend Cave-tubing.com!

I also highly recommend Cave-tubing.com! I went just a few weeks ago with Yhony.

If someone reads this that goes with them, ask Yhony and Brains about live demonstrations on what not to do. Very funny.:D

Obviously everyone has their favorite but these guys are so great! They take special care of the old and the young, and will give you a personal guide if you need it.

I wouldn't say you need to be in great shape to do this. The walk is maybe 20 minutes but very flat. We were in water shoes and did fine. No hills, no rocks, no mud.

It is exciting to be sure, but I am a total wimp and I was fine b/c Yhony and Timmy did all the work! All I did was paddle a little with my hands for fun while Yhony was running his buns off!

They make it the most memorable day!!

If you are looking for an awsome team to take you cave tubing, contact Yhony at cave-tubing.com. There were 8 of us in our group, 4 adults and 4 kids ranging in age from 5 to 12. The first thing Yhony told us was the kids will come back safe. His goal is to keep everyone safe yet have an awsome time too and they did a fantastic job. Yhony, Tigre, Timmy and Junior took excellent care of all of us plus he took us through 2 caves and farther down river than the cruise line tour went. We are all talking about going to Belieze for a week in the future so all our friends can go cave tubing with cave-tubing.com. I was able to talk to Yhoney all the way back to Belieze. He is a very interesting man. I highly recommend them to anyone who is thinking about going.

Stacybbb,

If you read this before you leave, you won't need the rope for your daughter. Yhony makes sure you will stay together by putting your feet under the arms of the person in front of you. We took our 5 year old with us and she was upset at the end of the trip because she never even got wet so we had to get her wet. They will take such good care of you daughter, no worries. Just have a good time, these guys are awsome....

Xtreme Cave Tubing!!!

I won't go into detail, as others have explained it to you, but I will say I wish I were there now!!!!