Belize reviews-confusion

[papilliontraveler]

I have been reading all the great reviews by alot of you about the cave tubing in Belize and what a great time it is. Also, on TA, the reviews are great.

However, I was checking out some of the Belize reviews on cruise critic under "Cruise Reviews" and everyone(most everyone) is bashing Belize. Most say it is a dump and they would never get off the ship there again. That Carnival made them wait to get off the ship, if they weren't going on a Carnival-paid for excursion, etc.

Thoughts?

[coasterjan]

I have been reading all the great reviews by alot of you about the cave tubing in Belize and what a great time it is. Also, on TA, the reviews are great.

However, I was checking out some of the Belize reviews on cruise critic under "Cruise Reviews" and everyone(most everyone) is bashing Belize. Most say it is a dump and they would never get off the ship there again. That Carnival made them wait to get off the ship, if they weren't going on a Carnival-paid for excursion, etc.

Thoughts?

 

I'll soon be making my 5th visit to Belize, and it is one of my favorite ports. We've done 2 Carnival excursions and 2 private excursions, and have loved all of them. I really don't understand the hatred. I'm not a fan of tendering, and it seems that Carnival takes their excursion guests off the ship before those without Carnival excursions, but Belize seems to be better at tendering than some of the other ports. Their tenders hold *lots* of people, so the lines move quickly.

[World Gallery]

I don't know if I would call it a dump but I would call it different from the other ports, which is why I think people get so aggravated with it:

1. I have been many times and the bottom line is, most of the time, tender is just flat out aggravating. It has been a different experience each time. One time, people were lined up in the stair wells waiting to get off of the ship and onto tenders, which cause a lot of people to lose patience. The tender are big but if you are one of the first ones on it, you sit and wait while it finishes loading (which means you are bobbing around and this can make some sick.) For the other West Carribean ports, you just walk right off of the ship, which makes for a much better start I guess.

2. Getting back onto the ship at the end of the day, you may wait in a very long line to get back onto a tender, usually in the hot sun.

3. Unlike Cozumel, when you get off of the ship, you are in a gated "tourism village" that can sometimes feel very crowded. If you do leave the gate, it can be unnerving because there are tons of locals asking you if you want to buy something. Therefore, you either go on a tour, or stay in tourism village. You can just wander around like you can in other ports.

4. All of the tours (most private tours) require you to drive at least one hour. In other ports, for the most part, you have the option of doing something close by.

Basically, it is just a more difficult port in my opinion. I do not like it as much as other ports because of this reason. My family has cave tubed twice and we enjoyed it.

[papilliontraveler]

Thank you both for the insight, very helpful information that makes sense.

I am looking forward to the stop.

[truchattycathy]

Everyone has different opinions, don't let bad ones sway yours. Go and make the decision yourself. Lots of people bash Jamaica and if you leave the port area, it is a beautiful country. JMHO I am going to Belize and I am prepared to enjoy it. :D

 

I have only had to tender in Grand Cayman, but it was no big deal.

[seahunters2000]

Everyone has different opinions, don't let bad ones sway yours. Go and make the decision yourself. Lots of people bash Jamaica and if you leave the port area, it is a beautiful country. JMHO I am going to Belize and I am prepared to enjoy it. :D

 

I have only had to tender in Grand Cayman, but it was no big deal.

 

The tender to Belize is long due to the fact that the ships cannot anchor on the coral reef. The tenders are large and fast. Much different than tendering to Grand Caymen, Cabo, or Catalina Island. Someday they will build that pier that has been in the works for years now.

[UKBayern]

We have been to Belize not on a cruise but on a DIY trip, and although we found it to be a beautiful country, Belize City is a bit grubby, to say the least. We hardly ever feel unsafe anywhere, not even in a Third World slum, not even if the guidebooks tell you it is a bad neighboorhood, but in Belize City we did not feel comfortable at all. There seemed to be a lot of drugs going on, a lot of shady characters on the streets, and we lived in Amsterdam at the time, so it was not as if we had never seen anything like that. We would really like to return some day and check it out again to see if we can change our opinion. I can understand that some people on CC call Belize a dump, especially if you do not have a lot of experience with travelling to poorer countries. Belize City cannot be compared to many other port calls in the Carribean. I have to say that it gets a lot better if you get out of town. I would not recommend a whole day in Belize City however.

[MamaParrotHead]

I didn't care for Belize for a few reasons. First tendering takes a BIG bite out of port time here...we went on a private excursion and round trip tendering (between waiting to get on a tender and the ride there and back) took over an hour out of the 6 hour port day. The people in the stores were not friendly at all. The crew on our private excursion (which was a disaster, but that's another story) were really rude and I got the vibe from all the locals I met that they were just reluctantly putting up with us tourists. Also, the stores in the area immediately surrounding the pier weren't even up to par for the other typical tourist trap stores I've been to in other ports...they didn't have ANYTHING, not even a decent souvenir shop.

 

It wasn't like WAR TORN, third world country. It just wasn't honestly worth all the time, waiting and expense I went through to get there. Disappointing all around.

[dvan68]

Belize is one of the few times when it is a GREAT idea to take a ship sponsored excursion. We did Goff's Caye - waited in the disco for our tender. It looked to me that they were doing 2 tenders at once - 1 excursion, and 1 going to shore - but it may have been only excursions. It was a lot better than waiting for a number then waiting again.

 

We had enough time to do the snorkel tour - go back and clean up, then go to shore and walk around the shops. It was very odd to see so many 'knock off' purse stores - and not good ones - and expensive to boot.

[chasm4u]

Belize is awsome and not scary at all! I can see some people who are especially mainstream minded not caring for it. However most people like me, adventurous, open minded and somone who loves culture and isnt upset over lack of shopping or by poor people really love the place. parts are very beutiful!

[Warmer Climes]

We love Belize. It's a beautiful and interesting country and we have done some excellent excursions there- cave tubing with cave tubing dot com and the NCL excursion up the river to Lamanai. Would I wander alone in Belize City? No, like many places in the US. We look forward to our next stop there.

[papilliontraveler]

That is what we are going to do, cave tubing with cave tubing dot com. I can't see paying the cruiseline double(without lunch) what the private company wants. Reviews are excellent so I can't see any worries.

 

As far as tendering, I don't think that should be factored in when talking about a country, ie: "it's a dump" "I wouldn't go back"

We have tendered in to many ports, that is just part of the deal with some of them, but that doesn't have any effect on how I feel about the country.

 

I am very curious to see Belize as we watch House Hunters International on HGTV, and alot of the people go to Belize to buy a vacation home. It appears to be a nice place.

[wadethegringo]

That is what we are going to do, cave tubing with cave tubing dot com. I can't see paying the cruiseline double(without lunch) what the private company wants. Reviews are excellent so I can't see any worries.

 

As far as tendering, I don't think that should be factored in when talking about a country, ie: "it's a dump" "I wouldn't go back"

We have tendered in to many ports, that is just part of the deal with some of them, but that doesn't have any effect on how I feel about the country.

 

I am very curious to see Belize as we watch House Hunters International on HGTV, and alot of the people go to Belize to buy a vacation home. It appears to be a nice place.

 

I found Belize on a cruise three years ago...I have lived in Belize almost two years now!!!

[sublarry]

I just got off the Valor on Sunday. We took the sargentss key snorkel tripnthru carnival. We did the late trip at noon. The trip picked us up off the boat and we never stepped foot on the main land. This excursion was the highlight of our cruise,(cayman island port was closed so we could not do that one).

They did let you get a number to tender in if you did not have a excursion thru carnival and boats left almost every 20 minutes. If you had a excursion they told you where to meet on the ship and then took you down at the right time. Seemed very orderly to me. At about 12 they started first come first serve, but it was 4 hours after they started so I saw no long lines.

 

Hope that helps!