VIV Cave Tubing

Just wondering if anyone here has taken the cave tubing excursion with VIV in recent months - how was it? good guides? good tubes? good time?

Was it hard to find the VIV guide at the port?

How do you think they compare to other cave tubing companies in Belize?

Plenty of people on here have done cavetubing with VIV and they come highly recommended.

There are 3 major companies in Belize that do the cavetubing experience. They are VIV, .bz and .com.

We went with .bz last year and LOVED them.

Here is my detailed review with tons of pictures if you are interested in what they provide:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=30667696&postcount=44

Just know that they have also updated their tubes to the kind that VIV has with the headrest and they clip the tubes together now. :)

What ever you decide, it will be a great experience.

Just wondering if anyone here has taken the cave tubing excursion with VIV in recent months - how was it? good guides? good tubes? good time?

Was it hard to find the VIV guide at the port?

How do you think they compare to other cave tubing companies in Belize?

We went cave tubing with VIV in April, 2012. It was a fantastic tour! Why, you might ask?

1) The tubes had head rests and nets on the bottom, and were very spacious.

2) 2/3 of the way through the tour, other tours left through an opening, while we had another 25 minutes through an amazing rain forest. Those other people missed so much in that little bit of time.

3) All the tours arrived at the cave parking lot at approximately the same time, but we were among the last to leave. Still, we arrived back in port in plenty of time to shop before tendering back to the ship.

4) And this is the biggest reason we used VIV-floaters were in groups of eight, and arranged 2x4. The tubes were tethered together with ropes and carabiners. All the other tours made people hook their feet under the arm pits of the people in front. GROSS!!!

The guides were great, friendly, and very knowledgeable.

The trip inland takes an about an hour by van. It was one of the best excursions we have done.

Hope this helps.

Funny you should post this and ask...we just used them on Christmas Day, I was with 21 members of my husbands family. They were great, I would highly recommend them. To find them, it is a sort of long windy walk thru the port shops area, then we just asked where to go and someone directed us to them.

I agree with the previous poster...they did a great job. You do not carry your own tubes until the very end and put them in the water, the tubes were wonderful. One reason I went with them was b/c the tubes had a net on the bottom and I have a 4 yr old and wanted her to feel secure in her tube. She did fantastic.

We were back in plenty of time at the port. Highly recommend them!

.bz has the head rest tubes now and they also lock together side-by-side. They no longer use the "feet-to-armpit" style.

I just wanted to add that when you get to the first part of the river, the companies will usually ask you if you want to enter there or keep going. They will give you the option. Most of the cruise ship tours go to this first part and go down. All of the other companies (VIV, .bz, .com) will go on down as long as you are up to it and want to.

Also know that if you want to experience the termites and the tarantula...it's on the second half of the walk (by NOT entering at the first part of the river). If you opt to not go on down, you will not get to see those things.

I too am interested in booking with VIV. How long does it usually take for them to respond to booking request?

They got back to me with a day or so. Very quick.

.bz has the head rest tubes now and they also lock together side-by-side. They no longer use the "feet-to-armpit" style.

 

I just wanted to add that when you get to the first part of the river, the companies will usually ask you if you want to enter there or keep going. They will give you the option. Most of the cruise ship tours go to this first part and go down. All of the other companies (VIV, .bz, .com) will go on down as long as you are up to it and want to.

 

Also know that if you want to experience the termites and the tarantula...it's on the second half of the walk (by NOT entering at the first part of the river). If you opt to not go on down, you will not get to see those things.

Good to know, thanks! My son is interested in seeing the tarantula!

Good to know, thanks! My son is interested in seeing the tarantula!

My daughter loved it and she talks about the "big" spider all the time that she held. Whenever she comes across a spider now and I yell "kill it", she says "don't worry mommy, it won't hurt you. I held a big one remember?" She cracks me up. The memories we create on cruises are priceless. :D

This thread looks to have very helpful posters. I have another question. I apologize for highjacking the thread. But how much time is spent in really confined places with no light and very low ceilings?

As far as the trantulas, my daughter will not be amazed. Where we lived in north Texas a few years ago, we had lots of them in the neighborhood. I even had one jump onto my shirt and crawl down my arm. Yes, I freaked out.

I just booked with VIV. T big three companies all seem so similar but I am hoping the VIV trip is slightly longer than .com or .bz becuase of what a poster in this thread said.

I am also tacking on the zipline portion, will that effect the cave tubing?

Thanks to all, this board is very helpfull.

This thread looks to have very helpful posters. I have another question. I apologize for highjacking the thread. But how much time is spent in really confined places with no light and very low ceilings?

 

As far as the trantulas, my daughter will not be amazed. Where we lived in north Texas a few years ago, we had lots of them in the neighborhood. I even had one jump onto my shirt and crawl down my arm. Yes, I freaked out.

We were in the caves for nearly two hours. The caves are very large and very high and not confining at all. As far as dark, at one point of our tour, we were told to turn off our headlamps. (We all wore helmets with headlamps on them.) It was so pitch black that I could not see my hand in front of my eyes. That was cool!

I went cave tubing with VIV 6 days ago. They were easy to find at the port. We walked through Terminal 2 and they were at the exit wearing red shirts and holding signs. Our guides were Greg and Karim and they were wonderful! Very knowledgeable and friendly. We had 13 in our group compared to the other huge busloads who were arriving.

We were the only group I saw who were not carrying tubes on the hike to the river (probably a 30 minute walk or so). We picked up our tubes about 5 minutes prior to entering the water. They have mesh bottoms, headrests, and cup holders. I did see a couple other groups with tubes with headrests, but I didn't see any with mesh bottoms. One group looked like they were going down the river on bald tires and didn't even have helmets, only lights strapped on their heads! They went down feet-in-armpit and halfway through the river, a couple of their people had accidentally broken off and joined up with us The caves are beautiful, the ceilings are high, and the water is "refreshing!"

I went cave tubing with VIV 6 days ago. They were easy to find at the port. We walked through Terminal 2 and they were at the exit wearing red shirts and holding signs. Our guides were Greg and Karim and they were wonderful! Very knowledgeable and friendly. We had 13 in our group compared to the other huge busloads who were arriving.

 

We were the only group I saw who were not carrying tubes on the hike to the river (probably a 30 minute walk or so). We picked up our tubes about 5 minutes prior to entering the water. They have mesh bottoms, headrests, and cup holders. I did see a couple other groups with tubes with headrests, but I didn't see any with mesh bottoms. One group looked like they were going down the river on bald tires and didn't even have helmets, only lights strapped on their heads! They went down feet-in-armpit and halfway through the river, a couple of their people had accidentally broken off and joined up with us The caves are beautiful, the ceilings are high, and the water is "refreshing!"

Thanks so much! Glad I booked VIV for March! Were you transported in a van? Was it air-conditioned? Were there any lunch options? Were lockers available?

Thanks so much! Glad I booked VIV for March! Were you transported in a van? Was it air-conditioned? Were there any lunch options? Were lockers available?

Just wanted to tack on a few extra questions: Was there a spot to get out of the tube and just play in the river? Cliff jump (i saw this in a youtube video- looks fun)?

Thanks!

Mistizoom, yes, we were transported in a 15 passenger van- 13 of us and the two guides. It was air conditioned and actually I was freezing on the way back! It's about an hour ride each way to and from the site. There are vendors set up there selling snacks (Pringles, Doritos, sodas/Gatorade/beer, cashew wine, candy bars, etc.), and there is a bar and a restaurant there that you can eat at or get food to go in a styrofoam container and eat in the van if you want. There are ample restrooms and changing rooms as well. You can also rent water shoes for $3 if you wish. I honestly don't know about lockers, we locked everything in the van. Our guides said there had never been a break-in.

xrxpx, we did not get out and play in the river or cliff jump. However, the river had been closed for a couple of days due to heavy rains prior to us being there and it was elevated and flowing quite faster than normal, according to our tour guides. Our guides never asked us about swimming in the river and our group never said anything either. Maybe the current was too fast or maybe they knew we were ready to get out of that chilly water!

How would I go about contacting this vendor and does anyone know if they offer ATVing like Butts up does?

How would I go about contacting this vendor and does anyone know if they offer ATVing like Butts up does?

Their website is www dot vivtours dot com. Not sure if I'm allowed to post it here. There is a reservation link on the lefthand side. I don't see anything there about ATV's, just tubing, tubing/ziplining, and tubing/Altun Ha ruins.

How would I go about contacting this vendor and does anyone know if they offer ATVing like Butts up does?

We went with Butts up in December and yes they do it all - cave tubing, ziplining, ATV's, and if you want a stop at the zoo. Can't say enough about these guys . They gave us one of the best days of our trip!!!!! Check them out!!

Just got back from Carnival Dream and used VIV tours in Belize. They were wonderful! We learned all about the country and the culture during the drive and the walk to the river. King David and the Rock were our guides and they did a FANTASTIC job. You could tell they were very proud of their country. We saw beautiful scenery and enjoyed the entire trip. We had time to stop at a nearby restaurant for a local lunch. I highly recommend them!

I'm thinking of booking this excursions while in Belize. Do you pay ahead or upon arrival? About how many people were in your group? We're torn between tubing or ruins...

I'm thinking of booking this excursions while in Belize. Do you pay ahead or upon arrival? About how many people were in your group? We're torn between tubing or ruins...

If I had it to do over again I'd definitely go with the tubing and add the zipline. Unless you are really into ruins, you'll have way more fun tubing.

We booked ahead online and didn't pay until after we were finished tubing & ziplining. Our guide told us that each guide is only allowed a max of 8 people. Anymore and they need a 2nd guide. We were lucky there was only 5 of us on the tubing and only us on the zipline.

We booked with VIV online a few weeks ago and got an email confirmation the next day. No deposit to pay, you need to bring cash to pay on the day of the excursion.

We booked with cavetubing.com commonly called butts up and got the confirmation and got to pay with a credit card. Much easier than paying in cash

We went about 3 weeks ago in January with VIV tours and it was fantastic! Great guides who taught us all about Belize and the Mayan culture. We saw beautiful scenery on our walk and first visited a dry cave, then two river caves followed by a nice float back to the start. It was the best excursion I have ever been on in four cruises. Booked the excursion for the 8 of us and we basically had a tour to ourselves in the van and on the river. You won't be sorry booking this trip.