First time in Belize with Carnival Glory

My husband and I are booked on Carnival Glory and one of the stops is in Belize. We did not book any excursions with cruise and I am wondering how safe is it to find safe venue at the port to venture on our own, any suggestion is greatly appreciated:):)

My husband and I are booked on Carnival Glory and one of the stops is in Belize. We did not book any excursions with cruise and I am wondering how safe is it to find safe venue at the port to venture on our own, any suggestion is greatly appreciated:):)

I suggest asking this on the Belize board. You will find a variety of opinions, but the consensus seems to be that you should plan on an organized tour in Belize that you arrange prior to arrival.

We have been to Belize a few times and the tour ooperators have warned not to wander Belize City or the countryside alone. Much too dangerous. The excursions are your best and safest way to see the country.

I second that, for sure! It's a beautiful place and lots of beautiful things to see, but I would not venture off except on a ship-sponsored excursion. We took a boat ride down a river and saw so much. It was our kids' favorite excursion. We also went to Mayan ruins. The second time we went there we went to a remote island and snorkeled a beautiful reef. There isn't much to see around the port, so I'll pass on the advice I was given the first time I went there: if you don't take an excursion, stay on the ship! JMHO

We have visited Belize twice (most recently on Glory). The first time we booked a cave tubing excursion through a local tour operator, the second time we booked a ship-sponsored trip to Altun Ha. One of our tour operators explained some "safe" ways to explore on your own from the port - there are places you can walk to, but you need pretty clear directions. I too would post this on the Belize board.

TO be honest, I would be very wary of going off in Belize City on your own or with some random person at port. YMMV but to be honest, I felt the least safe of anywhere we had ever been getting back into port from a private excursion we took for Cave Tubing & Zoo.

While if you got to some islands and you are offered drugs every where else if you said no they just moved on. Getting back into port, a man followed us (with 2 children 10 and 13 mind you) INTO the port security booth trying to get us to buy prescription pills.

Like some others said, our tour guide also told us he would never set foot in the city around the port after dark or unless there was a cruise in port just because he felt it was to dangerous. Now this was also one of the tour guides who does land tours in Belize in which you repel down into caves and camp there who thinks walking 2 blocks from port is to dangerous on his own!

Many, many years ago we had our 1st trip into Belize. This was before the port was built. The tender dropped us off at a dock outside the Radisson hotel My husband and our friend were asked if they wanted pot or a woman! We did walk into town and were told to walk in the middle of the street. This was so we wouldn't be dragged into an ally. We did spend a lot of time at the Radisson's pool though.

It is still a LONG tender ride to the port and we have done the cave tubing with Reggie twice. The ship's tour can be from $75-$85 @ but private ones are $45! That's same caves, same place, same time to do. Ask on your roll call what other passengers are doing there. Maybe join them in a tour.

We have been to Belize a few times and the tour ooperators have warned not to wander Belize City or the countryside alone. Much too dangerous. The excursions are your best and safest way to see the country.

It makes me sad that the cruise lines and tour operators are still using fear to make a buck. They have been touting that "you need to be on an organized tour if you leave the fenced in area" nonsense for years and its nothing but fear-mongering.

While Belize City is poor and not particularly scenic, it is not particularly dangerous either. We have walked around town and its perfectly fine.

Be smart and book an excursion. Bannister Cay is a great island and beach. It was very safe and we had a great time. Have a great cruise. ;)

Belize is a port stop where we have always booked an excursion through the ship. ;)

All my tour guides who already had a captive audience said that Belize City is not a great place to walk around outside the dock area. During excursions, I have seen groups of men standing on corners. There isn't much outside the dock area. There was no police presence. Traffic was aggressive.

I agree with Skrufy, as we were told the same thing when we cruised to Belize in June 2014. I wouldn't suggest wandering off on your own and would only do excursion through cruise line. We also stopped in Honduras, and felt safer there. We have ventured off on our own on many cruises....but definitely not Belize. That's just my opinion.

I agree with Skrufy, as we were told the same thing when we cruised to Belize in June 2014. I wouldn't suggest wandering off on your own and would only do excursion through cruise line. We also stopped in Honduras, and felt safer there. We have ventured off on our own on many cruises....but definitely not Belize. That's just my opinion.

I would also not suggest wandering off on your own here. Not to mention the long tender ride.

I seriously would not want to be on a private tour that runs late and doesn't get back on time with that long of a tender ride. There's not much that can be done with that long of a tender ride and a late returning excursion. If it's not booked through the ship they won't wait for you. This is not the port I would go off on my own in. Some will say it's safe and some will say it's not. But I will tell you, while walking through the port area and being heckled through the fence to purchase drugs I wouldn't walk on my own through the city.