Lamanai excursion

If you have done the Lamanai excursion, who did you book with and was there plenty of time? We have beach days booked for our other ports and did cavetubing last year, so we are looking for something different in Belize.

I prefer smaller groups so i booked with Way to go Tours. We made it back with about 2 hours to spare, we were first to tender in.

We booked our shore excursion through the cruise line. Seeing the ruins was a fantastic experience.

Laman ai is one of the best cruise days we have ever had. Note that it is far! I never hesitate to do independent tours but we booked this through Princess due to the distance and were very pleased. It was a full day, we were 1st off ship and last ones back. This one I recommend booking through he ship for the guaranty.

Laman ai is one of the best cruise days we have ever had. Note that it is far! I never hesitate to do independent tours but we booked this through Princess due to the distance and were very pleased. It was a full day, we were 1st off ship and last ones back. This one I recommend booking through he ship for the guaranty.

THIS 100%!! Absolutely one of the best excursions in the Caribbean.

Thanks for the information -

Anyone have experience with this company or know about them?

http://lamanaitour.com/lamanai-shore-excursion/

Laman ai is one of the best cruise days we have ever had. Note that it is far! I never hesitate to do independent tours but we booked this through Princess due to the distance and were very pleased. It was a full day, we were 1st off ship and last ones back. This one I recommend booking through he ship for the guaranty.

Again, 100% on this. I book 99% of my excursions through private companies, but this one I booked through the cruise line (Princess). There are just too many logistics where things can go wrong not to have the "return to ship" guarantee. The private companies offering the same tour were only about $10 per person cheaper, and peace of mind in worth more than that. On our trip, our boat had engine trouble on the way back down the river causing at least a half hour delay until another boat could be sent to meet us for a mid-river exchange. If I had been on a private excursion when that happened and someone said to me: "How much would you pay right now for peace of mind that you will make it back to your ship in time?", my answer would have been way, way, way more than $10 per person. But since we were on a ship-sponsored tour, I never had to worry. And by the way, this remains one of my all time favorite excursion, anwhere. It is great. Going to try out Altun Ha with the river journey in a few months.

[quote=Anyone have experience with this company or know about them

I am curious as well, we are interested in seeing ruins while in Belize but at this point Xunantunich and Lamanai are not offered through Carnival. (Only Cahel Pech is offered). So I'm now considering booking privately. My main concern is missing the ship, but this company offers transport to next port?

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If it is not offered through your cruiseline, going with a private vendor would be taking a big risk.

[quote name=Anyone have experience with this company or know about them

 

I am curious as well' date=' we are interested in seeing ruins while in Belize but at this point Xunantunich and Lamanai are not offered through Carnival. (Only Cahel Pech is offered). So I'm now considering booking privately. My main concern is missing the ship, but this company offers transport to next port?

 

 

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There are lots of independent vendors that go to Altun Ha which is nearer the port than the other 3. Yes it's fairly well excavated, but gives you a good sense of the structures and how things were. People like Lamanai because it's still not fully excavated and you get a sense that you're seeing things lioke Stephens and Catherwood or Maudslay. But believe me, none of these 3 would have had any qualms about not having to cut away the jungle to see the ruins themselves.

[quote name=Anyone have experience with this company or know about them

 

I am curious as well' date=' we are interested in seeing ruins while in Belize but at this point Xunantunich and Lamanai are not offered through Carnival. (Only Cahel Pech is offered). So I'm now considering booking privately. My main concern is missing the ship, but this company offers transport to next port?

 

 

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Like you I would love to hear experiences from people who booked with that company. :)

We are looking to do this excursion through RCI mainly due to the returning to the ship on time factor. I am curious for those who have done the excursion before how many people are typically on the excursion?

We were on a full sized motor coach, maybe 25 seats. I think there were three full coaches. The boat seated about that many too. That said it isn't the kind of trip that seems crowded because your group is segregated from others. The Lamanai site is huge and I never felt herded like you hear of on some excursions. Full disclosure though, we went on NCL but I can't imagine the result being any different on RCI.

We were on a full sized motor coach, maybe 25 seats. I think there were three full coaches. The boat seated about that many too. That said it isn't the kind of trip that seems crowded because your group is segregated from others. The Lamanai site is huge and I never felt herded like you hear of on some excursions. Full disclosure though, we went on NCL but I can't imagine the result being any different on RCI.

Ditto for RCI that we did 2015. Great excursion, and I agree you should arrange it through the ship because of time constraints. We were debating doing this tour because of the distance and time on the bus, but it was well worth it. We both highly recommend this tour to everyone, as it was one of our favorites!

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That's not bad at all. Thank you both for your replies. :)

Definitely looking forward to doing this one.

[quote name=Anyone have experience with this company or know about them

 

I am curious as well' date=' we are interested in seeing ruins while in Belize but at this point Xunantunich and Lamanai are not offered through Carnival. (Only Cahel Pech is offered). So I'm now considering booking privately. My main concern is missing the ship, but this company offers transport to next port?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app[/quote]

 

I know this is an old thread, but Lamanai is now offered as a Carnival excursion for my stop in September.

If you have done the Lamanai excursion, who did you book with and was there plenty of time? We have beach days booked for our other ports and did cavetubing last year, so we are looking for something different in Belize.

We went to Lamanai on our own back in 2007 whe there were no cruise tours to the site and it still is one of the best things I have done. I wrote the following to answer questions others had about going on an indi trip to Lamanai.

The one thing that I left out was knowing and understanding the time difference - ship vs port time. I hope you get to go!

"We just returned from a cruise which took us to Belize. I was set on exploring Lamanai. First let me say that we DID go to Lamanai and it was the very best thing I did on the entire 8 day cruise. It was also one of if not the most beautiful place I have ever been to.

Secondly, be warned, it is not a quick trip. There is a very high risk of not making it back to the ship. Because this was our last port of call we took the risk - bringing all of our travel documents just in case. We DID make it back thanks to our two tour guides - Richard for his Indy driving and Jr. for his expert boat handling skills on the New River.

A few things to know about if you want to go to Lamanai:

1. Belize is a tender port. You must get out on the first or second tender. I found that cruise ships like to get their excursion passengers off first so make sure to speak to the Purser's Desk and confirm the tendering procedure. On the morning of arrival, make sure to be in the gathering location early and be politely firm about getting off the ship.

2. You will need a print out of your confirmation with tour time - make it as early as possible! The cruise ship will ask for this as proof of an early tour.

3. Have your travel documents with you just in case you miss the tender. The ship leaves ON TIME.

4. The drive from the pier to Orange Walk is at least 1 1/4 hours. The you take a boat ride 24 miles down the New River. We traveled at about 22 knots the entire time so it took us about another hour or so. Then you have to do it all over again to get back!

5. Traffic in Belize City can be tough mid day.

6. If you go bring bug replant and wear good hiking boots/sneakers and pants. There is a lot of mud in areas and if you climb any of the temples you need to have really good footwear and pants.

That being said, I wish we had more time to explore this beautiful place. Because we left so early we were the only ones at Lamanai and it was WONDERFUL. This is a site that does not get a lot of cruise traffic - just what I like. I can not wait to go back to Belize and spend a number of days at Lamanai.

I contacted the Belize excursion company and they booked the trip for me. Even though they had all of our cruise info - they were not as cognizant of our time constraint as I thought they would have. Because we were nervous out the excursion, we e-mailed the company from the ship and moved the start time up one hour. (E-mailing from the ship is expensive so get your ducks in a row before you go.)

Richard our land based guide drove us to Orange Walk with the speed of a Puma. What a great job.

Jr. took us down the New River with a few stops along the way to see wildlife - including crocodiles. He was fantastic. Jr. also took us around Lamanai and was very knowledgeable. He encouraged us to climb the largest temple - so we did. Know that I am home I can say that I was glad that I did it. What a thrill!

This is not a fancy cruise tour. This is a real experience to be enjoyed.

Tip: Leave your backpacks on the ground but take a camera."