Anyone been to Bannister Island in Belize?

[Killswitch]

We are doing the 7 day Cozumel, Belize, Costa Maya cruise in a few weeks and i want white sandy beaches, clean and cool.

 

It looks wonderful.

 

42 dollars doesn't make me happy to go to the beach and the excursion says it's only for four hours.

 

Anyhow....has anyone gone there on an RCCL Excursion?

 

Or what Beach Day suggestions would anyone have for those three ports?

 

Thank you

[ladyselene]

Hi,

 

We did a private excursion to Bannister Island for $25 pp last year. We booked it right at the pier. It was a 15 minute or so speed boat ride to a beach that was like a lagoon. There are not waves there but it is nice to swim and they had a platform out in the water you could climb up on to lay in the sun. It was not exactly the same spot as the RC excursion but another part of the island. It was pleasant, clean enough, they sold food and drinks, fairly reasonable prices. Lounge chairs were included, there were a couple of vendors, decent bathrooms and outside showers. The best part was the little boats went back every 20-30 minutes so you could stay as long as you wanted. It was safe and fun. Pretty enough but not awesome. I would have been bummed to pay $42, $25 felt like enough lol. We had a nice time there but there isn't a close beach to the port as far I know you have to reach them by boat. You can most likely find this company online ahead of time, wish I remembered the name.

 

I've gone to Playa Mia Beach in Cozumel. You get the tickets for $29 pp from RC, it doesn't include the transportation but it does include an open bar for the day! There were six of us that shared a cab so it wasn't too much. They had all kinds of activities, we even watched a wedding on the beach. It was nice there. We have also done the Tulum ruins trip with the beach and lunch, now that was a wonderful excursion but it is a very long day. If you decide to try that book it thru the cruiseline since it is far, the federal ferry takes 45 minutes and so does the bus ride to Tulum. It is worth it though if that is something you'd like to do.

 

I haven't been to Costa Maya, hope to sometime in the future.

Have a great time whatever you do.:cool:

 

Selene

[Pumbaamd]

We did the RCCL excursion to Bannister Island. We paid the going rate, not a big deal. A little boat met us right at the ship and took us for the 15 minute ride to Bannister Island. There was no need to tender in to town and back out again to the island. Everything was clean. Drinks and food were good. Would do it again.

Rick and Deirdra

[Killswitch]

Thanks for the replies!

 

Little research tells me their are two companies that tender you out to Bannister and only two besides the cruise ships. They are Coral breeze and Ecological Tours.

 

They offer a snorkel/manatee package with their visit to bannister but the word is if you go to them in the port, you can go to the beach only for 35 dollars now.

 

 

We are going to wait till port day because it may be raining cats and dogs that day.....but the place looks nice and I've heard pretty good things about it.

 

Supposedly carnival stopped going there late last year because it didn't meet their standards which for me is a Bonus!

 

lol

 

We are also thinking of Playa Mia in Cozumel.....

 

We're not keen on touristy excursions but love the beach!

[GatorGambit]

We're planning on doing Bannister Island on a 5 day on NOS in February. We're going through Coral Breeze. I'd love to hear how it goes!

[Killswitch]

We're planning on doing Bannister Island on a 5 day on NOS in February. We're going through Coral Breeze. I'd love to hear how it goes!

 

 

there is a fair number of threads about bannister in the Ports of Call deal/Carribbean/Belize forum.

 

I hear pretty good things about it. Nothing negative really.

 

You might want to just sign up when you get off at Belize if you want to do the island only it's cheaper than the snorkel/island deal Coral offers....by half. Plus the weather might suck that day and a beach day in the rain stinks....especially if it's a non refundable pre paid deal. But if you already pre paid it's probably too late.

 

I'm not signing up for any excursions until I see what the weather is like on ship and port to be safe.....if somethings booked? Oh well.