Belize Questions

We will be on Carnival Dream in July and one of our ports is Belize. A few questions.

1) Is this a tender port?

2) If so, do you have any idea what time in relations to the ship departing time you need to be at the tender or what the last tender time is. For example: it says we are in port from 8:00 - 5:00 so I know we need to be on the ship by 5:00 but if this is a tender how much time should we allow for getting from tender to ship.

3) Opinions on Caye Caulker and Bannister (Starfish) Island. We are looking for just a pretty chill day.

4) Our first choice is to go on our own, take the water taxi to Caye Caulker, spend the day and come back on the water taxi. This is why I need to know what time I need to be at the tender. Feedback??

Tendering is 15 minutes or so, ship is 4-5 miles out due to shallow reefs. It can be quite a wait to return to the ship.

I was told it was that far out, but not sure exactly.

We will be on Carnival Dream in July and one of our ports is Belize. A few questions.

1) Is this a tender port?

2) If so, do you have any idea what time in relations to the ship departing time you need to be at the tender or what the last tender time is. For example: it says we are in port from 8:00 - 5:00 so I know we need to be on the ship by 5:00 but if this is a tender how much time should we allow for getting from tender to ship.

3) Opinions on Caye Caulker and Bannister (Starfish) Island. We are looking for just a pretty chill day.

4) Our first choice is to go on our own, take the water taxi to Caye Caulker, spend the day and come back on the water taxi. This is why I need to know what time I need to be at the tender. Feedback??

Absolutely a tender port.

If you are cutting it that close, I suggest you confirm the time with the ship and not plan on what someone else experienced or remembers. Things can always change.

Cannot comment on those two excursions.

I found Belize City to be an armpit of a city. No way would I venture on my own at that port. But I am a conservative person.

Belize is a tender port, but if I remember correctly it is more like 20-25 minutes to the port area by tender boat. It is the furthest tender port I have ever seen in my limited experience. I have not been there for several years, but Belize City was not something I would do on my own. IMO Try the ports of call board for help there. We did a cave tubing tour which was interesting & got us away from the port area. We've also done a mangrove tour there that was ok.

yes, 25 minutes or so for the tender ride depending on the seas. did a tour my first time in belize and now i just stay on ship. don't care for the port at all.

Great port to scuba dive at, the dive boat comes to the ship and drops you off at the ship! :cool:

I would recommend doing a carnival excursion to one of the cayes. We went to rendezvous caye and the excursion boat picked us up at the ship and we took off from there in the opposite direction of the mainland. I don't know if they still go to rendezvous, but it was a nice teeny tiny island. Snorkeling was pretty cool. There was nothing else there. We still had time to grab a tender when we got back and spend a couple hours at the port for some shopping and drinks. Judging by the people yelling over the port walls I had no desire to go outside of those walls.

It's a 20-25 min tender ride. I can't really recommend when to catch the tender back to the ship, but I know that they will tell you when the last tender will be returning. As long as you're there before that time, you'll be fine.

I was at Starfish Island last year and it's nice enough. Not amazing, but nice. And a boat takes you straight there from the ship. No tendering to the mainland and then catching a water taxi. It's part of the review I posted last year if you want to take a look... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2225398&page=5

I personally wasn't comfortable taking a non-Carnival excursion because of the long tender. People do it every day though, so that's just me!

What BlueJay555 said. We enjoyed a relaxing day at the beach and a tasty lunch.

Just an FYI for others -- they will post the last tender time in the Fun Times.

I have had a twelve minute tender ride and a 22 minute tender ride!

They will tell you what time the last tender is scheduled to go back to the ship.

That is the only time you really need to be concerned about. How long the tender takes is of little consequence! :)

I believe the last tender is an hour before sail away. We've done 2 non-ship excursions (cave tubing and Goff's Cay) without issues. There's a large thread on the Belize Board about issues with doing Caye Caulker on your own with the water taxi. Considering going there through Coral Breeze for our March cruise. Goff's Cay is definitely worth checking out as well.

Belize is a tender port. It took us close to 25 minutes both ways even though the sea was calm that day.

It's always wise to find out what time the last tender leaves to go back to the ship before you go ashore and allow a little extra time. You just never know when something unexpected might occur that will cause a delay.

Typically the last tender is an hour before sail away time. They like everyone back on board 1/2 hour before sail away. So indeed the key to Caye Caulker on your own ( which is worth it to do something different) is the water taxi schedule for return. It's a 45 minute water taxi ride. And water taxi times listed are Belize time. Belize is on Central Standard time and does not observe daylight savings time. Carnival ship time is based on the time zone of the ship's departure port.

Here's a link to the water taxi schedule:

http://www.belizewatertaxi.com/schedule

If you are going before November and are leaving from a US Eastern time port, the noon taxi is your safest bet. If leaving from NOLA or Galveston, you can do the 1:30P

With the ship departing at 5 PM ... your last tender will be at 4:30 PM at the latest.

Had a great day in Caye Caulker Thursday. Not from a cruise ship. We flew from San Pedro. Grabbed a Golf cart taxi to town.

Haven't been there in almost a year. A lot has changed in town. New food stands, restaurants, upgraded beach area. The Split has been re done. Very nice.... New palapas in the water, more sand.

Lunch at Sip n Dip Beach. I had lobster tail with rice and beans. GF had chicken fajitas and we had 4 rum drinks. total bill was $54 BZ

Gelato Italiano is another new place we tried...very nice seating viewing the sea.

no camera but im sure you can google some recent pictures.

I never take ship tours and have never had a problem, even when walking around outside the gates. The people are very friendly and no thank you works very well. They seem threatening when you hear them yelling outside the gates, but they're just trying to make a living and the little tourist village is taking all their business. I've learned on multiple visits that they're just frustrated.

I never take ship tours and have never had a problem, even when walking around outside the gates. The people are very friendly and no thank you works very well. They seem threatening when you hear them yelling outside the gates, but they're just trying to make a living and the little tourist village is taking all their business. I've learned on multiple visits that they're just frustrated.

Agreed! Been outside the gates and do so each trip. We have found the people to be friendly as well and never felt threatened. Podie is right on the mark about the yelling over the fence. Might put some folks off but what else can the venders do when they are locked out of the marketplace?

Tendering is 15 minutes or so, ship is 4-5 miles out due to shallow reefs. It can be quite a wait to return to the ship.

 

I was told it was that far out, but not sure exactly.

This link should be roughly centered on a ship, and it's 4.6 miles out. Amazing how far out it is. They take about 150-200 people per tender, so the lines move fast. Getting back on board doesn't. We sat on top so we were able to get off the tender faster.

https://www.google.com/maps/@17.4491035,-88.1257885,13173m/data=!3m1!1e3

Great port to scuba dive at, the dive boat comes to the ship and drops you off at the ship! :cool:

I hope this is still true! Planning on booking for December

Bluejay555 mentioned Starfish Island. Since Belize is new to us, is this a beach that we can go to, and if so, is there a few to use it? Do they have area's where you can buy snacks as well there?