Lost world canopy tour review from 9-11-05

Hey everybody, we just returned from the 9-18 cruise aboard the Carnival Miracle where we did the Lost world canopy tour in Belize and thought I would write a little about it. We booked this tour through Carnival because of the time and distance you are away from the boat. We had a 4 year old that we left on board so we did not want to take any chances that in case something happened, the boat would not know where we were. That said, we were very glad we did since something did happen. On the way back from the tour, our bus blew a tire. As a result we were late getting back for the last tender. With in seconds of the tire blowing, both the guide and the driver were on their cell phone alerting their company and Carnival of the problem. Because of this they held the boat and the last tender for us. They also had another bus on route to meet up with us in case it was needed. I was very impressed by this tour and the people that were running it. We were meet on the dock by the guide. She was very friendly and well spoken. The bus was clean and air conditioned. On the long drive she gave us a tour of her country and was more than eager to answer any questions anyone had. The ride is long and I would say more than half of it takes place on dirt roads. I knew Belize was not a rich country but I was surprised by what I saw. It is very bare and the people have very little. There is one place where you have to pass through a military type checkpoint but the guide assured us that we were safe and that the crime rate was low. The site we went to is run by an American who owns all the land. It takes place in a cave which was pretty cool. It helps to keep the temperature down too. The guides were very professional and stressed that saftey was the number one thing. All spoke well and were personable. You are fitted with your equiptment and then have to make your way up a winding trail. Half way there you stop in a area that they have set up to show you what to expect and how to stop. Then you continue the hike. There were 5 lines and 2 repels. My daughter was the youngest on the tour at 11 and I would guess the oldest was in his 60's. We also had several women who were afraid of heights and all did well. The guides at each platform check and double check all equiptment before letting you go. I never felt any worry or unsafe. There is little effort required on your part. You hold one hand behind you on the line to keep you from spinning and to allow you to stop. With my daughter they just had her hold on and they stop her at the platform. With the repels, they do all the braking for you. It was a very cool experience. I would do it again.

I would also like to add that there is no food provided on this trip. You do stop on the way there 2 miles from the cave to use the resrooms and get a beverage and there is a cooler at the end with bottled water but there is no food. We brought along boxes of cereal from both room service and the buffet line.

Hi dsnygrl:

Great description!! Could you explain whether you feel friction from the line as you zip to a stop. Also how do you get over the side of the platform to rapel down.

We are going on this tour in March and appreciate all the details you can give.

You glide along smoothly and control the speed and stops yourself. I am not sure what you mean by friction. I take it as smooth or jerky in the gluide. The lines are not at much of an angle so your speed does not get that fast. If you leave your hand on the line cupped over it like an upside down u it will keep you from turning on the line. When you close your hand over the line and form a fist, you will brake yourself. If you do this smoothly you will glide smoothly. I thought it felt like gluiding across waxed dental floss. Most times you slow twards the end of the line anyway and there is no need at all to brake. On the first repel down, you have to step off the platform on to a metal pole that is about 12 inches from the platform itself. By this time you are all ready attached to all the cables. The worker at the bottom controls everything. Your speed and your braking. When they are ready they tell you to step off the pole and to push the hanging rope away from your body so you do not get a rope burn and then they lower you down. I hope this answered what you were asking. Let me know if there is more info you need.

Sounds like a fun excursion. How much was it? Thanks Beth

Thanks! It sounds like something I could and will do!

Beth, we booked through Carnival and it was $104.00 per person.

Monthend, its really pretty easy.

Do you recommend wearing jeans or shorts?

We all had on shorts and there was no problem with it. We had on the cargo type ones. You can pull them down through the straps of the harness. It also gave us pockets in which to put cameras and glasses. It is very humid and can get very hot in the caves and the thought of myself wearing jeans in those conditions makes my skin crawl. You step off the platforms and pull yourself into a seating position so if your jeans were tight, it may make it harder to do. The jeans would help against the bugs, but they do stop so you can apply bug spray before you get to the cave. I do not remember seeing anyone on the tour in long pants. I would say the chioce would be yours but for my comfort I would go with shorts. Ps. I don't know if you are a guy or a girl but if you are a guy, make sure whatever you choose, you leave yourself room for positioning yourself for comfort, if you know what I mean. The straps of the harness fit tightly in the top crack of your thighs and you need to make adjustments before they yank you up and attatch you to the line.

Wait a minute--this is beginning to sound uncomfortable. (I'm a girl but I'll have to tell my SO). By the way I thought you stepped off the platform and just went sailing on.

You don't exactly step off. You kinda go down onto a sitting position and go off. Pts all very smooth and easy. As for the harness, the first time they are hooked on to the line, the guys all looked a little uncomfortable but then they got all adjusted and saw it was not that bad. The taller you are, the less pulling they have to do to attatch you to the line. Guys get a little funny when a strange man grabs a strap from between your legs and pull you up by it to attatch you to a line. Its kind fun for us girls to watch. Its really not that bad. After the first time, they really didn't notice it anymore.

How long is the bus ride to the Canopy Tour? Is it really 2 hours one way?

You have really created a great visual for this trip. I can't wait to go!! How was the bus ride over? Was it scenic?

The bus ride was bumpy but I guess if you mean we had plenty of time to see Belize, then it was scenic. I expected Belize to be a third world country but I expected it to be lush. It is not. It is very poor. There is also alot of nothing there. There are many open patches of land. There is trash everywhere. There are little shacks scattered here and there. The city itself is not very large and what they call a 5 star hotel is not what I would consider to be a 5 star hotel. You pass the prime ministers house which is worth about 200k US. The average wage there according to our bus driver was 1.00 per hour US. They are very poor. I expected beautiful beaches and lush jungle. That is not what you will find. I would call it barren.

Wow, that is poor! We don't know how good we have it until we visit one of these countries.

I did this excursion on the 9/25 Miracle cruise. I just wanted to say that it was one of the most thrilling things I've done in a long time!

We didn't get the added adventure of a blown tire, but I was expecting it on the dirt roads.

I just booked DH for this excursion. It sounds very interesting! I would love to try it, but we will have kids in tow, and DS with special needs would be unable to participate, and doesn't handle the kids clubs at all (or should I say, they don't handle him! )

Thanks for the visuals ;)

A~:)

I just returned from cruise 10/16 on EOS. This excursion was FANTASTIC! If we hadn't been limited by time, I would have liked to have done it several times. I talked my DD and SIL into doing this tour and they were apprehensive at first. After the first zip line, they loved it. I highly recommend this excursion to anyone that can endure the bus ride.

We were short on time to return to the tenders, so they gave us the lunch to eat on the bus. I started eating until we started into the bumps, I wasn't going to fight it.

So how long is the bus ride... really??? 2 hours one way? I was just reading about the "other" zipline tour and they claimed the bus ride was about 50 minutes.

Thanks

A~:)

The bus ride took about an hour each way.

There were a couple kids (8-10 year olds) on the tour with our group of about16 people.

Im a little confused, are you zipping through a cave or through the rainforest? When I look at the pictures through Island Marketing LTD it looks like your in the jungle. However we are going to book through the cruiseline for the same reason the original OP did as we plan on leaving our DD on the ship. Can anyone tell me if the Island Marketing tour and Cruise Line tour are the same??

The bus ride took about an hour each way...

Thank you for that peace of mind. My DD will be relieved to hear the drive time has been cut in half! We booked through Carnival, and she is going with her father, uncle and 2 male cousins... 2 hours would be an awefully long time!!! :eek:

A~:)

I did the tour through Carnival and I would say the bus ride is more like 1 1/2 hours maybe as long as 2 depending on the traffic. Belize has very narrow streets that are one lane in ach direction so in some place we moved slwley. Then there is a long drive on unpaved dirt roads so depending on how fast your drivers moves on these will make the trip faster or slower. I do not think the tour Carnival offers is the same one that is offered by private companies. The only people we saw when we were there were the others that were on our boat and were on the earlier tour then ours. The difference in times for the bus ride may be because they are in different places. The one the Carnival tour goes to is in a cave. When you get inside the cave, there are many trees and you do go over the tops of them. The tour company is owned by an American. I booked through Carnival because we were going so far from the boat and since I was leaving a small child on board the boat, I wanted them to know where I was. After we got the flat tire and were late for the tender, I was glad we did.

Also note that I did read another poster on my thread that said they were short on time and were fed lunch on the bus. The Carnival tour does NOT include food. You make a stop about 2 miles from the entrence to the cave where you can use the restrooms and get a drink (juice or bottled water) and then after the tour there was a cooler with more bottled water. We took boxes of cereal from the morning breakfast bar with us and snacked on that on the bus.