Belize's Three Ruins - Pros/Cons

Staticfire-

I'd love to read your review. We leave in 2 weeks for Belize and are interested in the Altun Ha excursion. We're on the Caribbean Princess.

What did you think?

I'm curious as well. We don't go for a couple of months, but after hearing about Rychedelic's experience, I certainly don't want to do that excursion!

Just got back from the West Carib and added 3 more mayan ruin sites to our list.

Past trips included Lamanai thru NCL and Chacchoben with Native Choice.

This trip we were planning to do Xunantunich with Adventure Bob's, Dzibanche with Native Choice, and Tulum with NCL.

Weather was not really our friend this trip, so we had to cancel Xunantunich (due to the river being too high) and instead our guide recommended Cahel Pech right next to the city of San Ignacio. It's a smaller site with only moderatly sized temples, but the site was maintained well, and you could climb and explore everything. What made the site unique was that it had all of these intact enclosed rooms with vaulted ceilings that you could walk through. There were 4 in our group, and we only saw 4 others around the site the whole time we were there. There is a small museum on the site as well. There were archeology students there actively cleaning and unearthing a new area of the site. The drive was long, but the roads were decently maintained. It was a good excursion, but I am still looking forward to going to Xunantunich next time.

Our guide Louigi mentioned to us about the boat flipping over for the Lamanai excursion, but the way he said it I just assumed it was an independent tour operator not a ship sponsored excursion. That is crazy! Whether it was a true statement or not, he said that one of his associates was nearby when it happened and help rescue people and get them into a new boat for safety.

Dzibanche and Tulum were both great sites as well. At Dzibanche there was only a small handful of people there the whole time as well. Tulum crowded as always.

No kidding, it is still beyond our comprehension how we survived, including the fact that none of us were seriously injured! We were a family of four, two seniors in our group.

 

The tour operator used through NCL was Cruise Solutions Belize Ltd. Do a Google search of that company, they have had other incidents. The Belizean police showed up and took a verbal recorded statement from me and NCL tour reps met with us upon our bus return , where we talked to the tour operators contact person about the situation and everyone losing their cameras and personal property. We do have a contact person from Miami HQ for NCL who has yet to contact us regarding the situation. As far as reaction from NCL while we were back on the ship, what a joke!!!

 

What really makes me angry is that the NCL excursions manager informed me that they would not be cancelling future tours. WOW, was that a slap in the face! I guess they are waiting for a major injury or death.

I don't think that cruise lines are liable if I remember correctly, but I would have thought that NCL would have credited your cost of the tour, even if it was at their expense. How many people were on the boat?

Just got back from the West Carib and added 3 more mayan ruin sites to our list.

 

Past trips included Lamanai thru NCL and Chacchoben with Native Choice.

 

This trip we were planning to do Xunantunich with Adventure Bob's, Dzibanche with Native Choice, and Tulum with NCL.

 

Weather was not really our friend this trip, so we had to cancel Xunantunich (due to the river being too high) and instead our guide recommended Cahel Pech right next to the city of San Ignacio. It's a smaller site with only moderatly sized temples, but the site was maintained well, and you could climb and explore everything. What made the site unique was that it had all of these intact enclosed rooms with vaulted ceilings that you could walk through. There were 4 in our group, and we only saw 4 others around the site the whole time we were there. There is a small museum on the site as well. There were archeology students there actively cleaning and unearthing a new area of the site. The drive was long, but the roads were decently maintained. It was a good excursion, but I am still looking forward to going to Xunantunich next time.

 

Our guide Louigi mentioned to us about the boat flipping over for the Lamanai excursion, but the way he said it I just assumed it was an independent tour operator not a ship sponsored excursion. That is crazy! Whether it was a true statement or not, he said that one of his associates was nearby when it happened and help rescue people and get them into a new boat for safety.

 

Dzibanche and Tulum were both great sites as well. At Dzibanche there was only a small handful of people there the whole time as well. Tulum crowded as always.

We did Lamanai two years ago and loved it. This year, we are looking for a new experience, and Cahel Pech sounds great. How long of a drive was it to get there? Do you have pictures?

We did Altum Ha/River Wallace excursion with carnival this past Sept. Altum Ha is a small site but worth going if you like ruins. We were able to climb 2 of the pyramids. They were not hard to climb. One of them had steps to the side and then back down.

 

 

 

We have been to Tulum, Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Altum Ha. We rank Altum Ha as 3rd. Tulum is last and Uxmal 1st.

 

 

 

We have not been to the other 2 sites you listed.

What is your opinion on why altun ha is better than Tulum? Trying to decide between the 2 myself.

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We enjoyed going to Lamanai. We have not been to the other two so can't comment on them.

If you have time, you might like to look at pictures my wife took and made into a slide show for her website. It will give you a good idea of what you will see if you go to Lamanai.

 

Lamanai Shore Excursion

Who did you book this excursion with?

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I appreciate reading about the river safari as we were going to book that. Now I would be afraid.

I would not be two concerned about the incident with the boat as that was over two years ago now and have heard of no problems since then.

Not considering Lamanai at all which of the other two would be best if one of our group has some medium issues with walking. She knows at any of them she won't climb and she would be fine anyway, just wonder about the other walking part of the tours.

We are doing a cruise spring 2017 stopping in Belize.

Some reviews of the ruins say how bad the mosquitos are and others no mention at all.

Our concern is with Zika virus if mosquistos are truly that bad there.

Also which ones thru Carnival offer the most time at the actual site. Some reviews mention like 40 minutes to climb, explore, and eat lunch.

Thanks in advance

There were definitely mosquitos at Lamanai. We reapplied Deep Woods Off once we go there. We didn't get Zika or anything else.

Can't comment on Carnival excursions. We went there on an NCL excursion.

We had our hearts set on visiting Xunantunich during our cruise in February but at this point it is not offered on the Carnival website. The only Carnival sponsored ruins tour while in Belize is Cahel Pech. Wondering if I should continue to wait and Xunantunich will be offered later, or if I should just go ahead and book Cahel Pech. Would love your feedback please???

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Who did you book this excursion with?

 

 

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I booked our excursion through the cruise line. We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise at the time.

We're thinking of booking this excursion through shore excursioneer. Does anyone happen to know how long the boat ride is?