sbaylor

Thank you for all the details! I think we'll actually have a bit of a buffer. We're supposed to be in port from 8-5. The ship will be out of TX which will be on daylight savings time, but Belize will not be, and thus it should only be 7 local time when the tendering starts. I accounted for that when booking the flight back, too. Tell me if that sounds wrong, though :)

I think if the weather forecast is bad enough, we either don't even go out or just head back earlier. I have seen where if weather is too bad the ship won't even make the port as tendering would be dangerous, so in that case you could be out the flight cost unless you know in advance to cancel our have travel insurance. Do be sure to check what the ship time and port time will likely be as Belize does not follow daylight savings time.

Great! When is your trip?

I actually checked with LFK. You are taken to their office on the mainland for payment (may like those going straight to the island), then to the ziplining which is just a few mins away. When done you are picked up and taken back to catch the boat over to the island.

Caveman tours is fantastic. We were just with him in January and had a fantastic day on his half day option with 3 stops plus the tarpon and seahorses. Shark/Ray alley is included in his day. If you check out his website, you can see all the details and I fully recommend him.

So glad to hear that!

I think it came out to ~$200 for the four of us, and the kids were old enough to be at the adult price (I think the one-way fair for the water taxi will be $15/pp). Check out the Tropic Air website, though, as I don't know if the costs are different depending on the time of year, etc.

But what makes it comparable to other tours is that Caveman's fee is $80/pp for the five hour tour or $50/pp for the three hour tour and includes lunch. This doesn't include the transportation getting there and back, but once I added it all up and compared to the others, it was roughly the same. Plus, the others I looked at either didn't include lunch and/or had up to 90 minutes just on the cay, or were not private.

I struggled with the same decision and researched and compared a lot of options. Finally decided to go with Caveman tours. We will take the water taxi there and then fly back to balance the time and cost. He can take up to 8 as a private tour where you snorkel several spots, and since it's just your party, you have more say in how you spend your time.

Great reviews everywhere I checked and he responds well and answers any questions. Doesn't require a deposit.

I don't cruise until the end of May, so can't tell you how it goes until then!

Try cruisett.com

We'll be doing that itinerary leaving May 29th on the Breeze. We're a family of four, kids will be 12 & 13. This is our second cruise so we felt comfortable booking excursions ourselves instead of via Carnival. I got recommendations from several friends who have visited these ports and then did a lot of research myself. Here's what we're doing:

Cozumel: http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.net/cozumel-jeep-tour.html

-We were at this port last time and went to the Chakunaab Reef and swam with the dolphins and did some self-guided snorkeling off the shore. It was OK, but I'd probably try to find a better place for a dolphin encounter as it was pretty dull and you had to pay a lot of money for a disk of pics if you wanted any. Anyway, wanted to see more of the island with multiple activities, so we're going with the private jeep tour. Some of the recent results have been a little low, but apparently there was a death in the family. If something falls through, I'm not concerned about finding another option once there.

Belize: http://www.cavemansnorkelingtours.com/

-We really love to snorkel and this is supposed to be the place to do it. We will take the water taxi to Caye Caulker where Caveman is and do nothing but snorkel. I wasn't interested in some of the tours where you go around the island for 90 mins or so...just not what we are looking for. To get the most time in the water, we will fly back to Belize City from the Caye. I compared with LOTS of other options and this one seemed to be the best bang for the buck and Caveman gets fantastic reviews everywhere I looked. Totally private (although we could have another four join us). I also seriously considered the cave tubing/zip-lining, but my daughter is a mosquito magnet even with sprays, and in the end I just didn't want to risk having four+ hours of misery with her being constantly bitten (not to mention Zeka).

Honduras: http://littlefrenchkey.com/

-So many good options at this port. LFK place came highly recommended by numerous friends and once I showed the kids a YouTube video on it, they wouldn't hear of anything else. Seems like a good mix of activities in a beautiful spot.

Hope that helps!

I've been emailing with Caveman about taking his tour in June. I understand Belize doesn't change for DST, but assume the boat will be on Central DST leaving from Galveston. I've read about folks getting off the ship only to find they are one or even two hours earlier than the local time. How can I make sure I book the correct return flight from the caye based on whatever will be the departure according to ship time?

I'm considering this package but am curious how it works in terms of order (zipline first then go to LFK, vice versa?) and transportation. Do we ride all the way to the key for the other passengers to get dropped off and then head to Pirates? Anyone ever done this package or something similar?