Belize Port Question (off of Carnival Breeze)

Trying to plan our excursions for our upcoming cruise. At the Belize port, can you swim nearby the ship? I would like to see the island and book an excursion that doesn't include beach, but I also like to swim the beach just a bit. Perfect is we do a ruins excursion and then can swim by the ship before we get back on (Like Grand Turk!).

Thanks for any help! Or any suggestions of good excursions!

no you can not swim near the ship as the ship is about a mile offshore and you are tendered in. As to your other question, I would not swim anywhere near Belize City, where you depart for your ruins tour.

no you can not swim near the ship as the ship is about a mile offshore and you are tendered in. As to your other question, I would not swim anywhere near Belize City, where you depart for your ruins tour.

Thanks. I had forgotten Belize is a tendered port (a long one at that).

Belize had some beheadings a few years ago...so be careful

Also, Belize is not an island. It is a country on the mainland of Central America.

You can do an excursion, but then you have to catch a tender back to the ship. While in port , there is a small shopping area that sells souveniers. No beach and no swimming. Check out the Wet Lizard restaurant and bar for something to eat before going back to the ship.

Trying to plan our excursions for our upcoming cruise. At the Belize port, can you swim nearby the ship? I would like to see the island and book an excursion that doesn't include beach, but I also like to swim the beach just a bit. Perfect is we do a ruins excursion and then can swim by the ship before we get back on (Like Grand Turk!).

 

 

 

Thanks for any help! Or any suggestions of good excursions!

You won't find what you are describing for the reasons others have cited. This is a great port for water activities but be prepared for a wert swimsuit on the tender back. As for excursions, our favorite has been either Altin Ha and River Wallace or the shark snorkel and caye Caulkier.

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We did the Altin Ha and River Wallace excursion.

It's an open boat ride down the river with some rain forest along the banks. Then we stopped and purchased a native/authentic Mayan made lunch plate. We then boarded an air conditioned bus to the ruins. We were actually allowed to climb the largest ruin and take pics from up there.

It was well worth it to us.

PS ... we never do trips away from "civilization" if not on a ship tour. If anything goes wrong with the transportation the tenders and ship WILL wait for you:D

There's no beach without taking a boat to one of the barrier islands.

Maybe, just doing the land tour you're considering in Belize would work out best for you. ;)

I would recommend the cave tubing- best time ever according to my family. Cave tubing and lunch for $45.00 pp. Learned a lot from the guides on the bus to and from the caves and of course on the walk and then the ride. It was a great day. It was unBlizable. :cool:

"PS ... we never do trips away from "civilization" if not on a ship tour. If anything goes wrong with the transportation the tenders and ship WILL wait for you"

This is not really true, it's fear factor Carnival incites so you will buy their tours. You do know the same people do tours for Carnival, other ships, and hotel guests. My son was a Captain in St.Thomas and took people to Jost Van Dyke. He also did snorkel tours. His company had a direct line to the cruise ships. One example I know for a fact is the cruise ships charged $75, booked privately it was $50. However some companies have exclusive contracts with specific cruise lines prohibiting them from taking cruise customers if they have a contract. We always book privately. There are times we will call and the tour company will ask what cruise ship we are on and say they can not accommodate us, use company X, they have the same tour. It's a myth about private companies not getting back to the ship. They live and die by internet reviews. Pier runners are mostly drunken guests who lose track of time.

"PS ... we never do trips away from "civilization" if not on a ship tour. If anything goes wrong with the transportation the tenders and ship WILL wait for you"

 

 

This is not really true, it's fear factor Carnival incites so you will buy their tours. You do know the same people do tours for Carnival, other ships, and hotel guests. My son was a Captain in St.Thomas and took people to Jost Van Dyke. He also did snorkel tours. His company had a direct line to the cruise ships. One example I know for a fact is the cruise ships charged $75, booked privately it was $50. However some companies have exclusive contracts with specific cruise lines prohibiting them from taking cruise customers if they have a contract. We always book privately. There are times we will call and the tour company will ask what cruise ship we are on and say they can not accommodate us, use company X, they have the same tour. It's a myth about private companies not getting back to the ship. They live and die by internet reviews. Pier runners are mostly drunken guests who lose track of time.

"PS ... we never do trips away from "civilization" if not on a ship tour. If anything goes wrong with the transportation the tenders and ship WILL wait for you"

 

 

This is not really true, it's fear factor Carnival incites so you will buy their tours. You do know the same people do tours for Carnival, other ships, and hotel guests. My son was a Captain in St.Thomas and took people to Jost Van Dyke. He also did snorkel tours. His company had a direct line to the cruise ships. One example I know for a fact is the cruise ships charged $75, booked privately it was $50. However some companies have exclusive contracts with specific cruise lines prohibiting them from taking cruise customers if they have a contract. We always book privately. There are times we will call and the tour company will ask what cruise ship we are on and say they can not accommodate us, use company X, they have the same tour. It's a myth about private companies not getting back to the ship. They live and die by internet reviews. Pier runners are mostly drunken guests who lose track of time.

I agree in part and disagree in part. We shared a table with a family that had booked cave tubing privately and only made it back to the ship because Carnival excursions were delayed and tenders were still running to the ship an hour after set departure - they just made that one. This provider did not have any ties to the cruise line and they had a miscommunication about what time they needed to return (time zone thing) plus their van had a flat tire. They were very confident that but for the lateness of the Carnival excursions they would have been left behind - they had no way to reach the cruise line.

If going cave tubing, I personally would spend the money and book with Carnival though most of our excursions are done privately. Also, be aware that in dry season the water level can get low and tubing can be difficult.

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While in many ports we will do things on our own, but in Belize we will only book through the cruise line.

Too many factors involved. You have the rather long tender ride just to get there and everything of interested is a long way from the tender dock. ;)

All I can say is that in Belize our ship was scheduled to sail at 5pm .... and at 5pm our Carnival booked tour bus was stopped in gridlocked traffic in downtown Belize City.

I was very happy to have the tour guide announce that there was a Carnival Rep and a Tender waiting for us at the dock.:cool:

I would recommend not going outside the port!

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Thanks everyone for the good advice and opinions. We also always book through Carnival even though it costs more $$, I feel safer thinking maybe they won't leave me in a foreign country.

But now I'm wondering if Belize is going to be as "ultimate" to me as I thought it would be. Jamaica is my least favorite because of the fear factor. I'm terrified there. I did not think I would feel at all like that in Belize. It's always been on my "want to go there" list. Hmmm...

Ok, we were on the Magic 29th sailing, this was our 3rd cruise. We booked last April on our drive home from our Breeze cruise. I started researching excursions last fall as I wanted to see some ruins. After hours of reading differents sites and reviews, we decided on Altun Ha. We booked through Belize Exotic Adventures. We had family and friends totalling 10 on this cruise but only 5 committed to going.

I started emailing in early February. We selected the private tour with lunch and were quoted 70 pp. We emailed back and forth and always got prompt replies. Well, once we got onboard, 3 others wanted to join. I said, we can try but not sure they can accomadate extras this late.

We tendered to port, and made out way to the exit. Now,this is the big step, actually leaving the safety of the port. Some people have said that there are people just hanging on fences, and just swarm you as soon as you walk out. There were maybe 10 - 12 people outside, a couple women offering to braid hair and the others are offering excursions. I told the others in my group to wait in the port and I would walk out myself. As soon as I walked out, 3 or 4 guys started moving closer asking me where we wanted to go. I announced I had a tour with Nikolai and Belize exotic and one of them stepped up and the others backed off. *Pay attention here* The guy asked my name and I said i had a reservation and I asked him to give me MY name. He pulled printout of my email and read it to me and i immediately rested my sphincter and released the grip on my tactical pen. Yes, I carry a tac pen every where I go. I called out the rest of the group and he said the extra 3 were no prob! Well let me tell you what an amazing trip we had!!! First, Nikolai took all our pics on the Belize sign. Next, because we had 8 people he knocked it down to 50 pp and DD is 12 and the knocked hers down to 40 i think. Nikolai handed us off to his sister Natalie. We left the port and she gave us great history and facts! We were some of the first ones at Altun Ha and it was SOOO AMAZING! On the way back she stopped and picked us a cashew fruit which we ate with our lunch. It was chicken, rice and beans. They also had some of the best habanero salsa I have ever had!! The habanero plant was beside the front door, btw. They also sevred us a sample of the "Royal Rat", far too long to explain, google it or go to Belize and ask. We also stopped at a roadside wine stand(i make wine and this stuff was different but good, we bought 2 small bottles) and a big fruit stand just before we got back to town. Going back through town we definitely took some side roads that i probably wouldnt have wanted to walk down but i also feel like that when i go to DC. We made it back in plenty of time and did some browsing in the port shops. Many factors went into our decision, time in port, recent news, excursion reviews and as always your experience may vary. We also did a private island tour in Roatan but that's a different post.

Thanks everyone for the good advice and opinions. We also always book through Carnival even though it costs more $$, I feel safer thinking maybe they won't leave me in a foreign country.

 

But now I'm wondering if Belize is going to be as "ultimate" to me as I thought it would be. Jamaica is my least favorite because of the fear factor. I'm terrified there. I did not think I would feel at all like that in Belize. It's always been on my "want to go there" list. Hmmm...

I would honestly do another CL if it costs more. Explore other CL and see what others have to offer

Thanks everyone for the good advice and opinions. We also always book through Carnival even though it costs more $$, I feel safer thinking maybe they won't leave me in a foreign country.

 

But now I'm wondering if Belize is going to be as "ultimate" to me as I thought it would be. Jamaica is my least favorite because of the fear factor. I'm terrified there. I did not think I would feel at all like that in Belize. It's always been on my "want to go there" list. Hmmm...

To me - (keep in mind we went on a tour) - Belize felt much safer than Jamaica.

Ok, we were on the Magic 29th sailing, this was our 3rd cruise. We booked last April on our drive home from our Breeze cruise. I started researching excursions last fall as I wanted to see some ruins. After hours of reading differents sites and reviews, we decided on Altun Ha. We booked through Belize Exotic Adventures. We had family and friends totalling 10 on this cruise but only 5 committed to going.

I started emailing in early February. We selected the private tour with lunch and were quoted 70 pp. We emailed back and forth and always got prompt replies. Well, once we got onboard, 3 others wanted to join. I said, we can try but not sure they can accomadate extras this late.

We tendered to port, and made out way to the exit. Now,this is the big step, actually leaving the safety of the port. Some people have said that there are people just hanging on fences, and just swarm you as soon as you walk out. There were maybe 10 - 12 people outside, a couple women offering to braid hair and the others are offering excursions. I told the others in my group to wait in the port and I would walk out myself. As soon as I walked out, 3 or 4 guys started moving closer asking me where we wanted to go. I announced I had a tour with Nikolai and Belize exotic and one of them stepped up and the others backed off. *Pay attention here* The guy asked my name and I said i had a reservation and I asked him to give me MY name. He pulled printout of my email and read it to me and i immediately rested my sphincter and released the grip on my tactical pen. Yes, I carry a tac pen every where I go. I called out the rest of the group and he said the extra 3 were no prob! Well let me tell you what an amazing trip we had!!! First, Nikolai took all our pics on the Belize sign. Next, because we had 8 people he knocked it down to 50 pp and DD is 12 and the knocked hers down to 40 i think. Nikolai handed us off to his sister Natalie. We left the port and she gave us great history and facts! We were some of the first ones at Altun Ha and it was SOOO AMAZING! On the way back she stopped and picked us a cashew fruit which we ate with our lunch. It was chicken, rice and beans. They also had some of the best habanero salsa I have ever had!! The habanero plant was beside the front door, btw. They also sevred us a sample of the "Royal Rat", far too long to explain, google it or go to Belize and ask. We also stopped at a roadside wine stand(i make wine and this stuff was different but good, we bought 2 small bottles) and a big fruit stand just before we got back to town. Going back through town we definitely took some side roads that i probably wouldnt have wanted to walk down but i also feel like that when i go to DC. We made it back in plenty of time and did some browsing in the port shops. Many factors went into our decision, time in port, recent news, excursion reviews and as always your experience may vary. We also did a private island tour in Roatan but that's a different post.

Thank you for sharing your experience! We are also looking at Altun Ha as one of the possibilities for us.

I would honestly do another CL if it costs more. Explore other CL and see what others have to offer

I meant we always book our excursions through Carnival even though they cost more than booking privately. Probably the "fear factor" that others have said that is instilled...that Carnival won't leave me if I paid them. Though after having a problem with an excursion on our last cruise, I'm not so sure Carnival would help or hold the boat for me! :)

Carnival's cruises are actually quite a bit cheaper and for us are better also. We do a RC cruise and we weren't impressed at all. Came back to Carnival.

Belize had some beheadings a few years ago...so be careful

this comment is paranoid. drug dealers are the ones that have a crime problem.