Royal Caribbean vs Coral Breeze question:

Ok, we are about to give up on the Rendezvous or Starfish snorkel-- It seems like through the reviews that I can find, that both those two excursions are not much snorkel time and are perhaps geared for kids? At least that's the conclusion I came to.

So now, we are looking at shark ray alley and Caye Cauker. My dh was there before and said he wouldn't mind spending a bit of time again there as long as he can get in at least 1 hour of snorkeling. Does the Royal Caribbean excursion also stop at the gardens area for snorkeling the way Coral Breeze does?

If the two tours are basically the same, then we would just as soon use Royal Caribbean in spite of the added expense, only because tender ports make me nervous to do private excursions (based on one bad experience)-- If not, Coral Breeze says to allow 2 hours to get off the ship-- has any one used Coral Breeze from a R.C. ship that lands at 7:00 am, and how difficult was it to get a tender number to make it on time to meet Coral Breeze?

I also checked out Caveman, but I don't want to first have to get a water taxi- just too much of a bother for us.

Can't go wrong with Coral Breeze for this excursion but I totally understand why someone would want to use their cruise line for the excursion. They do an outstanding job as well and it is much easier for sure. With that said, I do not know if RCI goest to Coral Gardens but it sounds like it does. Best is to call RCI and ask them. They should have the itinerary for it. Best excurstion you can take while visiting Belize.

Ok, we are about to give up on the Rendezvous or Starfish snorkel-- It seems like through the reviews that I can find, that both those two excursions are not much snorkel time and are perhaps geared for kids? At least that's the conclusion I came to.

So now, we are looking at shark ray alley and Caye Cauker. My dh was there before and said he wouldn't mind spending a bit of time again there as long as he can get in at least 1 hour of snorkeling. Does the Royal Caribbean excursion also stop at the gardens area for snorkeling the way Coral Breeze does?

If the two tours are basically the same, then we would just as soon use Royal Caribbean in spite of the added expense, only because tender ports make me nervous to do private excursions (based on one bad experience)-- If not, Coral Breeze says to allow 2 hours to get off the ship-- has any one used Coral Breeze from a R.C. ship that lands at 7:00 am, and how difficult was it to get a tender number to make it on time to meet Coral Breeze?

I also checked out Caveman, but I don't want to first have to get a water taxi- just too much of a bother for us.

We did the CoralBreeze tour and loved it. When you reserve your spots, they will ask what ship you are on and what time you will arrive. They schedule the tours per the ship. For instance, we requested an early departure time since we were getting in early, but they put us on a 10 am tour because the 9 am tour would be used for another ship's passengers that had to be back earlier. They said they would put everyone from our ship on the same tour to maximize the time at Caye Caulker. I think that was great and very responsible on their part.

We had plenty of time to get off the ship, spend on the excursion (although we LOVED Caye Caulker and could have spent many more hours there), and even had time for a drink and a bite before we had to tender back to the ship.

One thing to mention is that while they will meet you at the tender dock area, you have to walk about 6 blocks to their boat. On the way back, they dropped us off right in the tender dock area, which was much appreciated!!! We were all tired by the end of the day and no looking forward to the walk back. They said they could not depart from inside the dock area, but they could drop off there. WoooHoo!! We really liked this tour, although we went for the day on the Caye, and didn't do the snorkeling.

IF you do the Shark Ray Alley excursion, you do not have to eat where they eat. There are other places right near where they go that have much better food. There is also a guy out grilling fresh catch fish right there nearby as well. You can save some $$$ and enjoy better food. Just FYI.

On their web site there are just suggestions where to eat-- glad lunch is not included, so we can just do a light lunch someplace..... thanks for comments. Anita

We ate at the guy grilling at the beach. Absolutely THE best grilled conch I've ever had. He had a whole grill of different kinds of shish-ka-bobs going. Cheap and delicious! There are a number of different adorable restaurants around the town.