mysticalmom

I read that ships anchor farther out from Belize City because of the coral reef. Don't know if that's true or not.

That would make sense, too. I know that we had to go around some in the smaller boat we were in when we went to Hol Chan marine park for snorkeling...

Our CD on the Jade was Philly Joel, and he was really good...maybe it's a different guy, though?

How was your cruise? Did the tendering go ok?

We had a great cruise, and the tendering, for us, was very simple and easy. However, I think that was because we were in a suite and simply went to the Star Bar to meet our concierge whenever we wanted to go. For Belize, we were there first thing and were on the second tender- the process from arriving at Star Bar to getting off the tendering boat was about 30-40 mins total (and 20 of that was the actual tender ride to the dock). We heard mixed reviews from those not in suites, from what PacPaliFamily said to others who said, "Oh, we didn't have much of a wait at all." I did hear that it was a rough start for the Belize tenders due to some issues possibly with legalities and the like. Not at all sure what that was, and what we heard was rumors, but we had no problems at all. For Roatan, we got up a bit later and got there about an hour into tendering, and again were immediately sent down a back elevator to join the groups who were already in progress. It wasn't bad either, and the tender ride was much closer than Belize (we heard due to the fact that Belize is a non-extradition country and therefore we had to anchor out further- not sure about that either). All in all, it was smooth for us, but again, if we wouldn't have been in a suite, I think it would have been much more stressful. :cool:

Thank you so much for the info. We are excited for this excursion. I have been reading some reviews and they mentioned about tipping. Were they pushy at the end for tips?

Nope- not to us. They just did the regular "if you feel as though we all did a good job, you are free to leave a tip in the gift shop" and left it at that. Nothing else mentioned. :) I hope that helps!

Has anyone done the South Shore Zipline Adventure excursion in Honduras? If so do you recommend it? I have a 6 year old that will be doing the excursion too. It states the minimum age is 4 years old.

We did the South Shore Zipline Adventure, and it was a blast! We did ours through shoreexcursioneer, but you can have the zipline company pick you up from the cruise terminal as well. I highly recommend it. Seriously one of the best things on our trip. I am not sure about young kids, as in our group the youngest was about 12, I think? But I do know that they took safety seriously and even went tandem with an adult guest who wanted to do it but was afraid. They took it in stride and were very efficient. Also, they offer you pictures on a CD in the gift shop afterward for a very reasonable price, but you can definitely take your own camera to take pics/video as well. We did both. What a great time! :)

When we were on the Jade a couple weeks ago, we thought the crew was fantastic-- except for one of the restaurant hostess'. We had a run in with her 3 nights straight. When we complained it was apparent we weren't the only pax having issues with her. They made it up to us with a few free bottles of wine and champagne. But we didn't let her ruin our trip.

 

As far as the bus breaking down, these things will happen from time to time. Don't let it discourage you. And also, always bring bottle water with you. It was around 80 degrees and 90% humidity when we went, so you never want to be without water. We always bring bottle water on shore excursions. Some tour operators have water, others don't. Better just to have some.

 

Have a great vacation!

Thanks, vinnytman! I'm pretty low maintenance, so I tend to have a good time regardless of a few bumps in the road. I'm sure we will have a great time, and now that we are fairly sure that our excursions won't be affected by the tendering process, I feel much better. :)

Thank you everyone- all this info is so helpful! I think we just might make our excursions, if all is still well in a couple of weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I just talked to a friend who happened to be on last week's sailing of the Jade as well, and she said that tendering wasn't a problem for them either. She did mention, however, that on one excursion (it was an NCL one, but not sure if in Belize or Roatan) they had buses break down, and it caused them to miss out on half of the tour they were taking. She went on to say that no one was apologetic or helpful when they brought this up once back on the ship, which was disconcerting. She added, as others have, that the crew in general was not very helpful throughout the trip, and she felt as though they viewed the passengers as a nuisance more than anything. :(

One other thing she talked about was that they had no water for an entire day, without any explanation or apology at all. Sounds like there are still a few kinks to work out, but I'm sure we will still have a fabulous time! ;)

We are on the Jade at the end of January and I am concerned about the same issues.

It sounds like a lot of the original issues with tendering have been worked out, but still the question for me is, unless you have some sort of priority on the tenders (suite guest or NCL excursion), what time will we actually be able to tender off the ship? If we get up early and get tender tickets, will they be early enough to enjoy a full day in the port?

We were in Belize last year, but were with a group that had a suite guest, so we were on the first tender for our ziplining/cavetubing excursion with a private company.

We tendered in Trujillo (not a port this year) on lifeboats and it went smoothly and we had all the time we needed.

 

I am still kind of waiting to see. We want to do Lamanai ruins in Belize and because that's such a long day, we will probably go with the NCL excursion, even though it's about $50/pp more than the private one.

In Roatan I'm not sure. We just want to go to the beach and snorkel at West Bay, but want to have a full day there.

I had seen that the cruise excursion people got priority, but suite guests do as well? I am in an aft suite (Deck 10- it's a penthouse suite, I think?), so does that make a difference, or is it only the Haven suites that have priority?

I feel exactly the same way. If we don't get a full day, then I'm not sure paying for an excursion is worth it, unless it's an NCL excursion. Add on top of that that Roatan is the shortest port day, and it's even more of a difficult choice. :(

Hi everyone!

We will be on the Jade the first week of January, and after a lot of the reviews on the nightmarish tender/port docking process, I am getting a little nervous! Even though this is our first cruise with NCL, we went out on a limb and scheduled excursions in Belize and Roatan with independent companies. Now I'm worried we will not get off the ship in either place in time to make them.

The excursion in Belize departs from the dock at 9am going to Sharkray Alley, so if we happen to be late (like some have posted about recently), we will totally miss out on that.

The one in Roatan going zip lining is a little less strict on the departure time (it just says 1 hr after ship arrival), but it says it lasts a total of 4 1/2 hours, which, if we don't get off the tender boats until noon-ish, would not work.

What do we do?? Should we just cancel now and avoid the stress, or take the chance that by two weeks from now, NCL has worked out all the kinks in the port arrival process in both Belize and Roatan? I really want to go on these excursions, but not at the expense of my sanity- this is, after all, a vacation. :)

Any advice is welcome, especially from those who have recently been on this itinerary. Thank you all for any advice you can give me!

Kristi