Can U BELIZE it?

[Fraydel]

My first time on Carnival for Western Caribbean is later this month. I have heard that a shore excursion in Belize is a must since the locals are not to be trusted. Is this true?? Does anyone know of a nice beach to just rest--no diving, swimming, snorkeling for me. The only excursions on line involve some water activity and are quite expensive. Rumor has it that the cruise lines have bought the rights to the beaches and you can't go on one without a costly excursion through your ship. Why would Carnival not have a simple trip?

Also, can someone compare Parrot Tree Beach to Tabyana Beach in Roatan? Thanks to anyone with some info.

[booboo4031]

We have booked a beach day in paradise with coral breeze limited. It's 5 hours and they take you out to Caye Caulker.

[Fraydel]

How do I contact them and find some info on that itinerary? Much appreciate your reply.

[booboo4031]

http://www.coralbreezelimited.com/

 

If you click on cruise ship tours it lists what is available and then the calendar will tell you if it's available when your ship is in port. This is a US run company with very good reviews

[BigDoug]

Go to: www.coralbreezelimited.com

Coral Breeze has some great tours at better rates than the ship. We are probably going to use them in March.

[Lisa766]

I was just on Caye Caulker on 2/1 with Coral Breeze, we did the snorkeling and then went there for lunch. It is a beautiful island, no cars, just golf carts and bikes. Very peaceful. I met a little girl there that I wanted to take home with me but I don't think her mother would have liked that to much. One of the girls and I were mentioning that it would be a beautiful place to go on vacation.

[VanessaC322]

We booked through http://www.belizecruiseexcursions.com and had a blast with our guides, very professional! The charge on our credit card said the company was located in Grand Cayman. If you have any questions contact the company before booking. We saved $30 pp by booking through them!

[JrMafia90]

Go to Caye Caulker, it is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to. Plus the locals are so nice. When you are in Belize make sure you go to Caye Caulker.

[fastbysean]

just got off the Elation and used coral breeze, they were wonderful. Even though we booked through them they put us on a trip with WetandWild because we were late getting off the tender because of Carnivals policy about taking trips through them.

[GENEVA4]

How far is Caye Caulker beach from the port? Do we need to rent a car or take cab?:rolleyes:

[AllenF]

Caye caulker is an Island off the coast about a 45 minute ride by water taxi.

[ShanB42]

Anyone have pics they can email me?

 

ShanB42@aol.com

[AllenF]

Try this site

 

 

http://www.gocayecaulker.com/

[kristineth]

We took the Coral Breeze water taxi over to Caye Caulker (we didn't go snorkeling with them, they just dropped us off at the island) for the day and loved it! Since we used their water taxi service we had more time on the island. (then if we would have used the Belize water taxi) It's such a cool~laid back little place....not commercialized at all which we loved. There's a great little bar at the split called the Lazy Lizard...we had lunch there and drank some lizard juice! We rented a golf cart and explored the island. It was a great day....so relaxing, I didn't want to leave!! The locals were friendly and the water was beautiful! Here are some pictures:

 

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/kristineth

[FishTale]

We booked a tour through CB last year. When we got to Belize we were told the water was too rough for the trip so they were canceling the excusion (it was very rough and had no problem with them canceling). I paid via PayPal and they (CB) reversed the charge before we were off the cruise ship.

[Fraydel]

:) Thanks to all of you who responded to my queries. Just booked Belize exxcursion with Coral Breeze forma day at Caye Caulker Beach. Has anyone rented golf cart there? Where? How much? What is there to see on the island? :confused:

[booboo4031]

I posted something on the Caye Caulker board and they gave me this link for golf cart rental:

 

http://www.caulkercabanas.com/jasmincart.htm

 

The person that responded said that this vendor has well maintained and clean carts. I have emailed them a few times to find out if I need to reserve in advance but I haven't heard back from them. I might just wait until we get there.

[helicopter]

We booked Caye Caulker thru Coral Breeze this past June. When we arrived in Belize they said the engine on their boat was down, so they would refund our money back to us thru Pay Pal.:( The only problem with this was that we didn't bring much extra money with us to shore since we had prepaid half. You don't want to walk around Belize, and there are NO beaches to speak of. We ended up taking a tour (thru one of the tour operators) all around Belize (outside of the city). DO NOT go outside of the gated area where you tender in to get a tour if something happens that your Coral Breeze tour is cancelled, and more than a few have been. Having said all this, we did enjoy the tour, although we were really looking forward to the Coral Breeze tour. Oh, and unlike the above poster it took us about two weeks to get our money refunded.

[phlydude]

I have heard that the natives are getting restless in Belize, especially since the corrupt government just raised taxes again. There have been threats of bombs at the ferry terminal and the schools were shut down because the teachers were on strike.

 

If:

a - the ship still goes to Belize AND

b - I decide to get off the ship here with all this still going on

I will only take an excursion through the ship to somewhat guarantee my and my family's safety and to ensure that I get back to the ship in case something causes a break-down there.

[Littlegoo75]

I have been to Belize twice, and just got back from my last cruise. I personally would not take a non-cruise ship excursion. Carnival offers a LOT of choices. We have done the cave tubing the first time, and then last week we did the Lost World Canopy tour which was amazing! I would highly recommend that if you are into extreme type sports activities. However, it is extremely limited. There are three time slots, and 22 spots in each, so if you want to do this, then you need to get to the shore excursion desk as soon as you get on the ship. It's about $100 per person, but I think it is worth every penny.

I haven't heard any bad stories from people who have booked their own excursions in Belize, but I just wouldn't personally. If something happened, and you couldn't get back to the pier in time to catch the last tender, you are on your own. IF you are on a cruise sponsored tour, the ship will wait. Belize is a beautiful country, but Belize City is not a place that I would like to spend the night.

[mnsawyer]

I am sure Carnival wouldn't use Belize as a port if it wasn't safe but that being said, know that they probably are encouraging everyone to take a ship sponsored tour. On our cruise on the Triumph in March 2003, John Heald mentioned several times that the department of tourism in Jamaica recommends that all cruise ship passengers take a ship sponsored tour. I have never been to Belize but have been to Jamaica a couple of times. We went to Margarittaville and then ventured beyond the "gate" to the shopping. We didn't stay outside of the "gate" for long. Probably Belize isn't as safe as Jamaica....we were thinking about river tubing with Marvin but I e-mailed a couple of times and got no response. My DH and I decided we are snorkeling on Goff's Caye with the ship sponsored tour...we can then come back after the tour, get lunch and tender into the shopping area for a stop. Makes us feel much more comfortable. I assuredly don't want to miss any tender and get stranded.