Gumbalimba Park

I originally posted this on the port of call board....but no answers.:(

when booking this excursion through Carnival do you have to leave the park at a specific time or do they have shuttle so you can leave at your leisure. We wanted to be able to enjoy the beach and possibly the lobster buffet.

There are shuttles that run periodically so you can leave after the tour or stay and hang at the beach for a while......every 30 minutes or so I believe. The only food they had were burgers and hotdogs. Plenty of beverages for sale though. I don't remember anything about a Lobster buffet??

I originally posted this on the port of call board....but no answers.:(

 

when booking this excursion through Carnival do you have to leave the park at a specific time or do they have shuttle so you can leave at your leisure. We wanted to be able to enjoy the beach and possibly the lobster buffet.

There are shuttles that run periodically so you can leave after the tour or stay and hang at the beach for a while......every 30 minutes or so I believe. The only food they had were burgers and hotdogs. Plenty of beverages for sale though. I don't remember anything about a Lobster buffet??

I though I read that somewhere (about the Lobster)....maybe I am mixing up my excursions. :o

Although, now that I think about it I prefer Cold Water Lobster not warm....and I'm sure it's not Maine Lobster.:cool:

There are shuttles that run periodically so you can leave after the tour or stay and hang at the beach for a while......every 30 minutes or so I believe. The only food they had were burgers and hotdogs. Plenty of beverages for sale though. I don't remember anything about a Lobster buffet??

I have a queston ...do they have floats that you use or rent..I want to just lay back and float around the ocean..

thanks,

Carla

Just found out that we will be going to Roaton (in place of Costa Maya)

on the Legend in April 08. We had planned on...

Costa Maya - Ruins

Grand Cayman - Stingray City, Turtle Farm and Hell

Cozumel - Paradise Beach

Belize - Cavetubing

Our DS (age 13) really was looking forward to the ruins (we each got to pick something that we really wanted to do)

My DH wants Paradise Beach. And I want the cave tubing.

Do any of the beaches in Roaton have a set-up like Paradise Beach (with the water toys, iceberg, etc.)? If so then we will do the beach there and the ruins in Cozumel:rolleyes: I was hoping we would go to Progresso if not Costa Maya:( There are no ruins in Roatan...is there:confused:

PS I looked on the Roaton boards but not much there.

Just found out that we will be going to Roaton (in place of Costa Maya)

on the Legend in April 08. We had planned on...

Costa Maya - Ruins

Grand Cayman - Stingray City, Turtle Farm and Hell

Cozumel - Paradise Beach

Belize - Cavetubing

 

Our DS (age 13) really was looking forward to the ruins (we each got to pick something that we really wanted to do)

My DH wants Paradise Beach. And I want the cave tubing.

Do any of the beaches in Roaton have a set-up like Paradise Beach (with the water toys, iceberg, etc.)? If so then we will do the beach there and the ruins in Cozumel:rolleyes: I was hoping we would go to Progresso if not Costa Maya:( There are no ruins in Roatan...is there:confused:

 

PS I looked on the Roaton boards but not much there.

i too was so disappointed, wanted to do 2 different ruins:( ; guess we'll do tulum or skip cave tubing in belieze:confused:

there are excellent ruins, one with a hidden inside section stories high...unfortunately, they're on the mainland - no go.

doesn't seem to be as much out there on Roaton.

from my brief research the last 2 days, it appears as gumbalimbapark is promising...canopy tour, animal preserve (iguanas, monkeys, etc.); beach, coxen's cave - pirate/history. I'm not sure if it's restricted to cruise ship passengers or open to pubic...maybe i'm thinking Tabayana beach?

TO the OP - i recall finding in a search that one of the other cruise lines does a lobster feast on the beach

Just found out that we will be going to Roaton (in place of Costa Maya)

on the Legend in April 08. We had planned on...

Costa Maya - Ruins

Grand Cayman - Stingray City, Turtle Farm and Hell

Cozumel - Paradise Beach

Belize - Cavetubing

 

Our DS (age 13) really was looking forward to the ruins (we each got to pick something that we really wanted to do)

My DH wants Paradise Beach. And I want the cave tubing.

Do any of the beaches in Roaton have a set-up like Paradise Beach (with the water toys, iceberg, etc.)? If so then we will do the beach there and the ruins in Cozumel:rolleyes: I was hoping we would go to Progresso if not Costa Maya:( There are no ruins in Roatan...is there:confused:

 

PS I looked on the Roaton boards but not much there.

We were going to do the ruins in Costa Maya too. There are ruins in Belize, but the one that looked most interesting as a 7 hour tour and we didn't want to do one that long this trip....so I guess that will just mean we'll need to take another cruise. :D

We are doing Stingrays and Paradise Beach. Haven't decided in Belize yet, maybe the zoo and city tour or somthing. Our kids are to young for cave tubing.

We will probably do Gumbalimba Park in Roatan.

TO the OP - i recall finding in a search that one of the other cruise lines does a lobster feast on the beach

That must have been where I read it.

I read that Gumbalimba is restricted to Cruise line booked tours, but I read where some people said they just went and got in. I probably wouldn't chance that will the kids in tow though.

i'm trying to figure out where the glass bottom boat sails from...search keeps leading me to rental cottages?

We have decided not to go to Tulum. Just to long of a trip:(

I think we are going with..

Grand Cayman - Stingray , Turtle Farm, Hell (w/ Native Way)

Cozumel - Gumbalimba Park (w/ ship)

Belize - Cavetubing (w/ Yhony)

Roatan - Paradise Beach and San Gervasio ruins (on our own)

Anyone been to San Gervasio and can tell me the best way to get there?

We have decided not to go to Tulum. Just to long of a trip:(

I think we are going with..

Grand Cayman - Stingray , Turtle Farm, Hell (w/ Native Way)

Cozumel - Gumbalimba Park (w/ ship)

Belize - Cavetubing (w/ Yhony)

Roatan - Paradise Beach and San Gervasio ruins (on our own)

 

Anyone been to San Gervasio and can tell me the best way to get there?

We are doing mostly the same except Cave tubing. I think we are going to stay on the ship in Belize.

Oh, and we are doing Paradise Beach in Cozumel and Gumbalimba in Roatan.:D ;)

We are doing mostly the same except Cave tubing. I think we are going to stay on the ship in Belize.

 

Oh, and we are doing Paradise Beach in Cozumel and Gumbalimba in Roatan.:D ;)

Have a great time. Please give a review on all when you return:D

I will be watching for it:p

Have a great time. Please give a review on all when you return:D

I will be watching for it:p

Thanks. I'll try to do the review. I must admit I'm not very good with it. :)

I usually always have a great time. As long as I'm not cooking, cleaning and working....:D

Thanks. I'll try to do the review. I must admit I'm not very good with it. :)

 

I usually always have a great time. As long as I'm not cooking, cleaning and working....:D

Even if it is not a full review:p I look forward to hearing how these places are. Again have a GREAT trip:D

We have decided not to go to Tulum. Just to long of a trip:(

I think we are going with..

Grand Cayman - Stingray , Turtle Farm, Hell (w/ Native Way)

Cozumel - Gumbalimba Park (w/ ship)

Belize - Cavetubing (w/ Yhony)

Roatan - Paradise Beach and San Gervasio ruins (on our own)

 

Anyone been to San Gervasio and can tell me the best way to get there?

Sorry got my Roatan and Cozumel excursions mixed up:confused:

Anyway.....

I was looking at the Gumbalimba Park excursion with Cranival. They have two...one with Zipline and one with Kayaking. We just want to tour the park and then go to their beach. Is there just a tour for that? I don't want to have to pay for what we are not going to use and I have read that you have to go through Carnival to get in. I have also read that some people have just gone to the park and have gotten in, I am afraid to chance it:eek:

We just got back last Sunday and we went to the beach in Grand Cayman, Tulum in Cozumel, Xunantunich in Belize and the Jolly Roger catamaran excursion in Roatan which took us out sailing and snorkeling and then to Gumbalimba park. I'm a little confused as to your expectations of the park. It is very pretty - lots of beautiful plants around, some wild iguanas, but the parrots are endangered and were mostly in cages (though the guides took them out so they could sit on people for photos), and they had cages for the monkeys too, though several were out loose. Coxen's Cave is a man-made "cave" where they have it set up with murals etc. to explain the island history. It's not the wild natural setting I had envisioned but it was still fun to have a monkey sit on you! Perhaps there are other sections of the park we didn't see but the only beach I noticed was where the catamaran docked, and we sailed quite a bit before we snorkeled. I didn't see any food. I think the catamaran had a free bar but we weren't drinking since it was in the morning. We really enjoyed the snorkeling and the park, and were happy to see so much of the island. There were some other people who had wandered to the park on their own and they got a ride back to the ship with us on our bus - but I don't think you can count on that, because our bus filled up quickly - we only had room for a few more.

And as a side note, the 7 hour ruins tours sound long, but they go by very very quickly. The guides that we had were interesting, informative and entertaining. I only wish we had more time at those sites!! In both cases we didn't get the opportunity to spend any more time at the ports but in travel to/from the ruins we got a good sense of the country we were visiting, and we were given the opportunity to shop for some souvenirs.

If you have any other questions I'm happy to help if I can.

qaperson- I have been trying to decide between Xunantunich and Altun Ha with the boat ride up the river in Belize. I love the photos I've seen of X'tunich but I wondered if there was much to see... jungle, villages, etc. along the way? I'd appreciate any info/advice...

qaperson- I have been trying to decide between Xunantunich and Altun Ha with the boat ride up the river in Belize. I love the photos I've seen of X'tunich but I wondered if there was much to see... jungle, villages, etc. along the way? I'd appreciate any info/advice...

To get to Xunantunich you have to basically go all the way across the country to the Guatemalan border, so there is a lot to see - for the most part you see different towns (some richer, some poorer) and lots of countryside. You really get a sense of what life is like in Belize (and it is very different than it is here). We didn't travel through jungle until we got to the site, and even then it wasn't as wild as I was expecting. I had heard we'd need long pants and shirts to protect us from bugs, hats to protect from monkeys, bug spray, etc...none of that was necessary. I absolutely loved it though - the ability to walk on any of those structures (having just been to Tulum where you couldn't go on any). And I got to climb the 2nd highest pyramid in Belize! I read about that boat ride to Altun Ha and it sounded very interesting - I selected Xunantunich simply because I had the idea it was a more impressive site and since I'd never seen any, I wanted to see as many ruins as I could.

We did not see a beach at Gumbalimba Park, either. And I certainly didn't see shuttles every 30 minutes.... that was not an option when we were there last year. You left when the bus left.... period.

We did not see a beach at Gumbalimba Park, either. And I certainly didn't see shuttles every 30 minutes.... that was not an option when we were there last year. You left when the bus left.... period.

I sure hope there's a beach, as that's one of the main things we'll be doing there! Here's a map that shows the beach area:

http://www.newgumbalimba.homestead.com/MapPage.html

The catamaran we were on docked near that restaurant, but there was nothing really going on there except people selling stuff, and I would say the bathrooms were the main interest in that area. It's possible there were people sitting on the beach to the right of the dock, I suppose, but I didn't notice any. There definitely weren't any sitting on it in front of the restaurant. There is sand that you walk through to get to the bathrooms etc. but I didn't have the impression it was a beach that anyone goes to for a beach experience. Maybe that's because it was drizzling earlier that morning? But if I were you, and you're looking for a good beach experience, I'd think you should go somewhere else - I've heard wonderful things about the beaches on this island, I just don't think this is one of them. (Otherwise why would we sail away from it to snorkel?)

I agree completely. Nobody in our group sat on the beach or swam. We walked through the rain forest, which was nice. The monkeys were great! The gardens were beautiful, and it is a very nice park but don't go there expecting a nice beach experience.

So, have we determined if:

* you have to book either of the 2 currently listed excursions (zipline or catamaran - of which i have no interest)

or

* you can just grab "a bus" (who's bus?:confused: ) and enjoy the park on your own?

anyone actually do option #2 when sailing Carnival?

wonder who i could call @ carnival & get a straight answer (don't say my PVP lol).

I sure hope there's a beach, as that's one of the main things we'll be doing there! Here's a map that shows the beach area:

http://www.newgumbalimba.homestead.com/MapPage.html

We were here in June 2007 and they did have a beach, it is smaller, but

swimable. They also had kayaks or could take you out to a reef with a floating raft type thing. Beware of the boats that fly by rather close to the beach, it is a "boating" lane. Also, they have several lounge chairs with shade.

have a great time!

I originally posted this on the port of call board....but no answers.:(

 

when booking this excursion through Carnival do you have to leave the park at a specific time or do they have shuttle so you can leave at your leisure. We wanted to be able to enjoy the beach and possibly the lobster buffet.

When we were here in June they had shuttle buses that ran about every 30 minutes, however towards the "end" of the day, which they consider about 2 pm local time....they save one bus to take the last few left. Our group of 11 was the ONLY group at this time! They actually made us feel like we HAD to leave. We waited till 3 pm, and still had time to stop at a road side shopping area. Maybe they run more/less shuttles depending on how many guests are present.

Oh yeah, there was not much to eat only burgers, hot dogs and icecream bars. They had water and some soda's as well.

But no buffet in June. The burgers were not very tasty and we left very hungry! So bring snacks if you can!

So, have we determined if:

 

* you have to book either of the 2 currently listed excursions (zipline or catamaran - of which i have no interest)

 

or

 

* you can just grab "a bus" (who's bus?:confused: ) and enjoy the park on your own?

I don't know if the excursions vary depending on when you're sailing, but there was a third excursion available through Carnival -- it's called something like "Pirates, Parrots, and Monkeys" and looks like it's just the park and Coxon's Cave -- no zipline or catamaran. That's the one we're currently looking at.