Belize was Scary!

[OttoCal]

Maureen, I have had some adventures in Belize that were a bit on the wild side and would no doubt terrify many here on CC, but have never been shot at. That must have been completely terrifying and I certainly don't blame you for never wanting to go back! :(

 

I do think that the whole Cruise Ship industry has done some harm to that country. Yes- the increase in income is there. But the places that we saw away from cruise ship traffic were markedly different, and Belize City on a no-ships-in-port day is just dumpy, not downright scary like many here have encountered. At the resorts and ruins we visited even 3 years ago over and over we heard 'you are so lucky to visit on a day where there are no cruise passengers', and it is totally different in the southern part of the country which gets no cruise tourism at all.

 

I've got my first cruise visit to Belize coming up next week, and I'm curious to see first hand the difference as a cruise ship day tripper as opposed to a 'dig in for a week and a half and drive all over the country' vacationer.

[Keri23]

Apparently some tourists don't feel safe to even get past the aggressive hawkers. It's not fun when you feel as though your purse or wallet are going to be stolen.

 

They can have my purse! I was worried about our LIVES! If they are going to get aggressive with my BIG corn fed men, what do they have planned for me and my daughter!?

[Lunenburg]

We were in Belize during their election a couple of years ago. It meant all the bars were closed and none of the restaurants were serving alcohol that day.

We went on a trip through Carnival to see the howler monkeys and had a good day with a great guide, she told us she mostly took her BMW to work (Better Me Walk). She had election posters for both parties and our bus was stopped several times on route to see the monkeys by supporters of each party. She simply held up the right sign, we all waved and they let us through.

We never felt uncomfortable during our trip, we met quite a few friendly people and we are looking forward to our cruise this March to Panama, Costa Rica and Belize.

[AzEileen]

We went on a trip through Carnival to see the howler monkeys and had a good day with a great guide... She had election posters for both parties and our bus was stopped several times on route to see the monkeys by supporters of each party. She simply held up the right sign, we all waved and they let us through.

 

What a neat idea! In addition to enjoying the monkeys, you must have really enjoyed that idea from the guide!

[Thamsey]

WOW there are cities and place in the US that scare me alot more,

I am looking at retirng in Belize and it amazes me that 1 or 2 incidents have people weired out. What do you want guarantees nothing will happen.... ah duh???

[Theresa522]

WOW there are cities and place in the US that scare me alot more,

I am looking at retirng in Belize and it amazes me that 1 or 2 incidents have people weired out. What do you want guarantees nothing will happen.... ah duh???

 

I so agree with you on this!! Really bad things happen everywhere. Look at what is going on now with terrorrists trying to blow up our planes. Yet we all keep on flying.

 

If I worried about what MIGHT happen I would never leave my house!

[Illa Zilla]

We (the Mrs., DSx2) are on the Carnival Dream in March. I would love to visit Altun Ha with my oldest. He's in 6th grade and learning about ancient civilizations in school (Egypt, Greece, China). I figured a trip to Altun Ha would be really neat for him.

 

Now there is a report of an attempted hijacking of a tour by one of the CC posters. Would you still bring your kids on a tour of the ruins?

[N.FL Cruisers]

Just got home from Christmas on NCL's Jewel. Belize was our second stop. I have been to many rough places & NEVER felt scared or threatened, but Belize was a 10 stepper! 10 steps in & 10 steps back to the port! Once you get away from the port there are about 60 very aggressive people trying to sell you tours. There were 4 of us walking together, 2 women & 2 men the guys are over 6' feet tall. My family is a bunch of big corn fed Hoosiers and these people scared all of us. They just wouldnt leave us alone. Even when we said 'no' they followed us & kept barking! :eek:

Once we got back to the port we went on a snokel tour with some company in Yellow shirts. They said it would take 15 minutes to get to the private island- it takes 30. 15 minutes back to the port.

Snoreling was a waste of time & money. The area was distroyed. Very few live coral left. Very few fish. However, we did see 2 sting rays.

We loved everything else on the cruise! we loved Costa Maya & Roatan where we went ziplining. We are NOT hard to please! But we will not go back to Belize.

 

I have a hard time understanding why some ports are just plain scary. You would think that the locals would welcome the cruisers into their land and not stand out of the gate with machine guns strapped to their shoulders. It is just plain scary to me when I see this. I have never seen this in Belize or have felt scared either. But there has been a few ports that I will not go back to because of this. Thank you for your thread.

 

What did you do in Roatan? We will be visiting that area shorty.

[N.FL Cruisers]

We (the Mrs., DSx2) are on the Carnival Dream in March. I would love to visit Altun Ha with my oldest. He's in 6th grade and learning about ancient civilizations in school (Egypt, Greece, China). I figured a trip to Altun Ha would be really neat for him.

 

Now there is a report of an attempted hijacking of a tour by one of the CC posters. Would you still bring your kids on a tour of the ruins?

 

 

The world is just plain nutty everywhere. If have heard about the hijacking then I probably would not do it the next day. But I have gone to many cities within the U.S. and I have never thought twice about the crime that happened moons ago. Anytime you travel outside your own home then anything could happen. I think that I would take my kids on a tour or the ruins just for the experience of learning something. I can't imagine that a hijacking takes place everyday but either way we all take a chance when we venture out.

[bobyng]

We (the Mrs., DSx2) are on the Carnival Dream in March. I would love to visit Altun Ha with my oldest. He's in 6th grade and learning about ancient civilizations in school (Egypt, Greece, China). I figured a trip to Altun Ha would be really neat for him.

 

Now there is a report of an attempted hijacking of a tour by one of the CC posters. Would you still bring your kids on a tour of the ruins?

 

1. Cruised to Belize several times. Do not hesitate to take son on a ship's excursion to Altun Ru, which is quite magnificent.

2. You and your son are at a greater risk of injury or death driving in any major US city.

[Illa Zilla]

Thanks for the responses. I was planing on a ships tour to the ruins just because of the tendering issues and a few "adventures" some other CCer's have had in Belize.

 

I'm hoping things work out so that he has a really unique experience to tell his classmates about...

[cbressler76]

If it makes anyone feel better.....we will be taking our 4 & 7 year old boys on the Altun Ha/River Wallace tour....

[black forest]

Hi,

we were in Belize with Carnival and had booked a cavetubing tour with Major Tom. We felt save all the time and the experience tubing through the caves was wonderful. Now we booked again a Western Caribbean cruise because we want to go back to Belize to go on the Alta Ha and River Wallace tour. But I would really recommend to go on tour and not on your own, my opinion. But we met a couple who walked through Belize City on their own and didn't feel uncomfortable.

 

Happy cruising!

[Maureen4]

My message was to just let people know our experience in Belize. We otherwise had a great day there cave tubing with Dennis Perez and going to a local place to have lunch. Our safety was his main concern. Getting shot at, was not a great way of ending the day but by no means lessen the experience we had before that. Just be aware and take recommended tours and you'll have a great time. There's no guarantees when you travel or at home either. Be safe!

[Pirate's Cutie]

We were just there on Thursday and it was our first visit to Belize, however we have spent real time (not cruise days) in multiple 3rd world countries. We went cave tubing and ATVing with dotcom. Great excursion and we would recommend them. The caves and jungle are just beautiful but if you never see Belize City you sure won't have missed anything. It's dumpy looking, not exotic or colorful. We didn't find anything about Belize "scary" but we're from NYC and nobody shot at us. Shootings aside, I do think that many tourists automatically associate poverty with crime. In U.S. cities impoverished areas DO equal danger but that is simply not the case in many other places. In a lot of these countries it the police you've got to stay clear of, not the poor folks!

[Keri23]

I have a hard time understanding why some ports are just plain scary. You would think that the locals would welcome the cruisers into their land and not stand out of the gate with machine guns strapped to their shoulders. It is just plain scary to me when I see this. I have never seen this in Belize or have felt scared either. But there has been a few ports that I will not go back to because of this. Thank you for your thread.

 

What did you do in Roatan? We will be visiting that area shorty.

 

In Roatan we went zip lining. It was awesome!!! We used the tour group right outside the port. I cant not remember their name! But the had a little white hut as you walk out of the NCL area. Our van driver didnt speak English but this 7 year old grandson did. Marlon was AWSOME! What a great kid!

The drive to the zipline was with out incident & the zipline guides were SUPER. They took all the picts of us ziplining, and did tricks on the lines. The other family that went with us had 3 small boys. The youngest was only 2 or 3. Although he was not at all impressed with the tour, the guides took him on their laps. It was really cute.

I never felt scared or worried & the zipline tour is 1 of our fondest memories of the cruise. I only wish that I had a zipline here at home! It really works those abs!!

[patrickmoran]

We went cave tubing and ATVing with dotcom. Great excursion and we would recommend them.

 

Pirate's Cutie,

Who did you book your excursion with? How much time did it take? Thanks

[Pirate's Cutie]

Pirate's Cutie,

Who did you book your excursion with? How much time did it take? Thanks

 

We went with Yhony's group, cave-tubingdotcom (substitute a . for the dot). Our guides were Keith and Ashton and they were lots of fun. The company had several large coach busses running even though it was a lousy day, weather-wise. We did the ATVs and the tubing and were still back at the port area with about 45 minutes to spare.

 

Be sure and get the plate lunch afterwards - chicken, rice & beans and coleslaw. It's really delicious.

[craftsnvines]

Just returned from Belize and walked around for a few hours, ignored the people trying to get me to purchase their items. That pretty much happens everywhere. We stayed near the shopping, got a drink, ate a burrito, bought a few trinkets and went back to ship. I was more scared in Jamica leaving the Dunn Rivers falls, when they saw money they attacked my husband. I ran out and my husband ended up in a fist fight with 4 Jamicans. I ran back to my tour operators bus. Belize was Just as scarry as walking or driving in a bad neighborhood in th US. We :eek:Still had a little fun people watching.

[karenh1127]

We were just there on Thursday and it was our first visit to Belize' date=' however we have spent real time (not cruise days) in multiple 3rd world countries. We went cave tubing and ATVing with dotcom. Great excursion and we would recommend them. The caves and jungle are just beautiful but if you never see Belize City you sure won't have missed anything. It's dumpy looking, not exotic or colorful. We didn't find anything about Belize "scary" but we're from NYC and nobody shot at us. Shootings aside, I do think that many tourists automatically associate poverty with crime. In U.S. cities impoverished areas DO equal danger but that is simply not the case in many other places. In a lot of these countries it the police you've got to stay clear of, not the poor folks![/quote']

 

Was the water for cave tubing cold? We are going in mid March and the only thing keeping me from doing the cave portion of the tour is the cold water. Do the tubes have bottoms on them? Also what do you recommend wearing for the atv/cave tour? Thanks

[CoastalPleasure]

I'd agree with everyone here in some aspect. We weren't impressed when we got off the ship there - a lot like Jamaica. We wanted t-shirts that said:

 

NO

Beads!

Braids!

Pot!

Taxi!

 

However, we went on the cave tubing tour there and it was fantastic. Once you get away from the port - on a fully authorized and organized tour - it's a neat place. But near the ship, it's just wrong.

[CoastalPleasure]

Double post - sorry.

[pullbangdead]

Was the water for cave tubing cold? We are going in mid March and the only thing keeping me from doing the cave portion of the tour is the cold water. Do the tubes have bottoms on them? Also what do you recommend wearing for the atv/cave tour? Thanks

 

I would call the water "refreshing". It is in a tropical rainforest afterall, so the air is quite warm. The water isn't bathwater warm by any means, but for everyone in our group it was truly a refreshing experience after the short hike in the warm jungle. No one complained of cold, it felt good. It's not a snowmelt river or anything like that. The tubes don't have bottoms, they're regular-old innertubes generally. So your butt does get wet, but it feels good.

 

For the tubing, we wore those nylon cargo shorts like from Columbia that are quick drying, and a t-shirt, and had a spare t-shirt in the van to change into when getting out of the water. Also, some closed-toed water shoe/sandle things by Teva that dried really quick worked very well, at least for us.

[Pirate's Cutie]

Was the water for cave tubing cold? We are going in mid March and the only thing keeping me from doing the cave portion of the tour is the cold water. Do the tubes have bottoms on them? Also what do you recommend wearing for the atv/cave tour? Thanks

 

The water at the caves is 74 degrees farenheight all year round. I was actually pleasantly surprised as I had expected it to be colder from what I'd heard and I'm one who REALLY hates cold water. We had the misfortune to go on what was probably one of the coldest (rainy and overcast) days just last week. The air temperature when you got out was much more uncomfortable than the water, but I'm sure that's NOT the usual case at all. We were okay with it but were sure grateful there was no breeze. There were a whole lot of Southerners with chattering teeth though. Again, this was because of the freaky cold weather last week and is not something you need to worry about at all. The tubes do not have bottoms in them. They are standard black rubber inner tubes. We wore bathing suits and coverups/tee shirts. More clothes wouldn't have helped as whatever you wear will be wet. What you wear on your feet is more important. We wore water shoes (they rent them there for $3 if you don't have any) or the Teva kind of hiking sandals. Don't wear flip flops as they will likely come off in the river. You don't need anything special on your feet for the ATV portion. BTW our sons both wore a pair of their older (trendy status name) sneakers and deliberately left them there. They were quickly snatched up and seemed to be much appreciated. If you want to do the same just bring some flip flops to wear back to the ship.

[Keri23]

I found the info on the zip line tour. Its called "The Roatan Canopy Zipline Tour" thru Island Marketing Ltd. They were great!