Question for those who've done cavetubing w/ VIV Tours

[klpsmom]

In my reservation confirmation, they stated that our tour time is 9a-230pm....is that local or ship time??

 

We are sailing on the Dream out of Florida (EST).

 

I just emailed them directly, but hoping someone here might have the answer, also.:D

[klpsmom]

Heard back from VIV and tours are based on ships time...

 

Very pleased w/ email communications thus far:)

[criscruise]

Have a great time! I am hoping you write a review about your cave tubing experience. We are going in Feb. and would love to take our family.

Have fun!

[Tcas1]

Yes please write a review. We will be doing VIV in August and looking forward to it. . .love caves

[SCcruiser123]

We are a group of 60 year olds wanting to go cave tubing. VIV has the nice tubes with headrests and seats, but dotcom has the advantage of carrying our tubes for the 40 min hot jungle walk. Plus they include a lunch for the $45. We are leaning toward cavetubing.com over VIV tours.

Any suggestions? Thanks:)

[crazykayaker]

We did the cave tubing last October and I loved it !! I have some great pics if I can figure out how to upload them. They served us a pretty good lunch afterwards. When you stop off at the little grocery stood on the way be sure and buy some cashew wine. I brought 2 bottles home. I think it was like 3.00 a bottle.

[astrofan4ever]

We did the VIV cave tube tour last week while on the Carnival Magic, They carried all the children's & women's tube for them only the men were asked to carry their tubes. Regarding the no lunch option, you really don't have a lot of time left after the tour to enjoy a sit down lunch there is a snack bar where the vans park if you want to get a drink or something else,they did offer to stop some where on the way back but everyone in our van wanted to get back to the port so they could spend some time shopping.

[SCcruiser123]

Thanks for the current update. That makes a difference for us.

[Dolphin3]

We went with VIV tours last week on the Carnival Liberty, and Kareem was our tour guide and he was absolutely wonderful!!!! He was very informative and we learned so much about his country. It was one of the best tours we have have ever taken. The trip took about 45 minutes in a comfortable van, where he shared with us information about Belize. When we arrived we had the opportunity to change into our swim suits and use the rest room. We then were given helmets and life vests. We then were given our tubes and we proceeded to begin our hike to the cave. Make sure to wear water shoes and bring bug spray. The hike was 2.5 miles and the path is very rocky. We stopped so Kareem could point various plants and trees. The hike was not too difficult but we were looking forward to the cool water after the hike. Kareem was very attentive and made sure everyone was doing okay. There were a couple areas where the stairs were steep and maneuvering with tube was tricky but everyone was willing to help each other. Once we made it to the cave we went in groups of 8 tubes that were clipped together, no holding on by armpits and feet. Kareem guided us through the cave by pulling us through the water and explaining the things about the caves. My daughter and I were a little nervous about cave tubing, but there is no reason to be. It was very safe. Once we finished the caves we continued to float down the river, it was beautiful. We ended the tour and we had less then a 5 minute walk back to the van. We were able to shower off and change clothes before heading back to the pier. It was wonderful and I would highly recommend VIV tours and especially Kareem. :)

[klpsmom]

We did the VIV cave tube tour last week while on the Carnival Magic, They carried all the children's & women's tube for them only the men were asked to carry their tubes.

Really??! That's fantastic! I'm traveling with 3 teenaged girls. They will be thrilled:p

[klpsmom]

We went with VIV tours last week on the Carnival Liberty, and Kareem was our tour guide and he was absolutely wonderful!!!! He was very informative and we learned so much about his country. It was one of the best tours we have have ever taken. The trip took about 45 minutes in a comfortable van, where he shared with us information about Belize. When we arrived we had the opportunity to change into our swim suits and use the rest room. We then were given helmets and life vests. We then were given our tubes and we proceeded to begin our hike to the cave. Make sure to wear water shoes and bring bug spray. The hike was 2.5 miles and the path is very rocky. We stopped so Kareem could point various plants and trees. The hike was not too difficult but we were looking forward to the cool water after the hike. Kareem was very attentive and made sure everyone was doing okay. There were a couple areas where the stairs were steep and maneuvering with tube was tricky but everyone was willing to help each other. Once we made it to the cave we went in groups of 8 tubes that were clipped together, no holding on by armpits and feet. Kareem guided us through the cave by pulling us through the water and explaining the things about the caves. My daughter and I were a little nervous about cave tubing, but there is no reason to be. It was very safe. Once we finished the caves we continued to float down the river, it was beautiful. We ended the tour and we had less then a 5 minute walk back to the van. We were able to shower off and change clothes before heading back to the pier. It was wonderful and I would highly recommend VIV tours and especially Kareem. :)

Thank you for such a great review. I'm glad I decided on VIV.

 

I will definitely post a review when we get back:D

[goscudder]

We went with VIV tours last week on the Carnival Liberty, and Kareem was our tour guide and he was absolutely wonderful!!!! He was very informative and we learned so much about his country. It was one of the best tours we have have ever taken. The trip took about 45 minutes in a comfortable van, where he shared with us information about Belize. When we arrived we had the opportunity to change into our swim suits and use the rest room. We then were given helmets and life vests. We then were given our tubes and we proceeded to begin our hike to the cave. Make sure to wear water shoes and bring bug spray. The hike was 2.5 miles and the path is very rocky. We stopped so Kareem could point various plants and trees. The hike was not too difficult but we were looking forward to the cool water after the hike. Kareem was very attentive and made sure everyone was doing okay. There were a couple areas where the stairs were steep and maneuvering with tube was tricky but everyone was willing to help each other. Once we made it to the cave we went in groups of 8 tubes that were clipped together, no holding on by armpits and feet. Kareem guided us through the cave by pulling us through the water and explaining the things about the caves. My daughter and I were a little nervous about cave tubing, but there is no reason to be. It was very safe. Once we finished the caves we continued to float down the river, it was beautiful. We ended the tour and we had less then a 5 minute walk back to the van. We were able to shower off and change clothes before heading back to the pier. It was wonderful and I would highly recommend VIV tours and especially Kareem. :)

 

 

Thanks so much for the great information. We'll be in Belize next April and I'm not sure what to do. A few more quesitons...What did you do with your wallet and things you didn't want to get wet? How were the facilities? Would this tour be okay for a 10 year old?

 

Thanks so much!

[Sammycupcaker]

We used them in May. They offered to carry a tube for my 7 yar old or told her she could ride with me. She chose to ride with me. They were great. My daughter enjoyed listening to all of the facts they were telling her.

[gdj7773]

We used VIV last November. They are great!! We are going again this November and have already made reservations with them. I have back issues and they were very helpful and considerate. We can't wait to do cave tubing again!!

[newcruiser08820]

In my reservation confirmation, they stated that our tour time is 9a-230pm....is that local or ship time??

 

We are sailing on the Dream out of Florida (EST).

 

I just emailed them directly, but hoping someone here might have the answer, also.:D

 

I copy and pasted from member review by PINKDIAMONDDOLLY.

 

 

Wednesday-Belize, We went cave tubing and zip lining with VIV tours, we were scheduled at 9:00am. The tendering process in Belize is a nightmare, we were told to be at the Follies lounge at 7:30am, when we got there the staff told us to come back at 9am. I told her that wasn't correct that we were told to come and get a ticket at 7:30, she asked me where I heard that. I explained to her it was on the going ashore information on the TV. (there were about 60 people down there, we didn't all screw up) she then told me they changed everything and we needed to come back???? Anyway we returned at about 8:15, they gave us a ticket and we waited like kindergartners in the Follies Lounge. We made it to our VIV coordinator about 9:15, (we were on the second tender) then we sat on a bus until 10:45 while they tried to round everyone up and drum up business. I am weird about time and this didn't make me happy. Belize is not a country you just want to sit around it. Its so poor that the children there were begging for water, not money- water. It was heartbreaking to see the abject poverty and the begging was endless. It made me so incredibly sad. I finally just sat on the bus so they would stop approaching me (if not I would have ended up giving everything I brought with me, it was so awful I sat on the bus and cried). On to the excursion. cave tubing was AMAZING, the hike is not terrible, it had rained the day before and the trail was muddy. I don't recommend this if you don't have fairly decent stamina, I could see this being rough for some people. Got to the top, (well second to the top) we could not do both caves because we were late (because we sat at the port forever). Cave tubing was beautiful and I really loved it, our guide Fab was very nice and before we knew it we were at the bottom. Time to zip line. The climb between a couple of the 10 platforms was rough, much harder than the hike to cave tube, but it was beautiful and we adored it. In retrospect I think it would have been more enjoyable if we had zip lined in Roatan and not did a combined excursion, but that was inexperience, still loved doing both. We were told the last tender left at 4pm (I know Carnival gives a little play in there) but we didn't leave the cave site until 4:15 (its an hour back to the port) our driver was great, but I didn't feel very safe, we tried to eat our included lunch in a crowded van going 90 mph. I finally just gave up. I think I would book through another company next time (not Carnival, because they are overpriced and book way to many people on every excursion). We got back on the ship at 6pm. I was really scared, thank god 2 Carnival buses broke down. We didn't leave Belize until 8pm. We missed the past guest party, we didn't know until we got back that it was from 5:00 to 5:45. This couldn't have been done on a sea day???? Guess they saved some money on drinks that way. Overall I loved what we did, but I didn't love Belize. I think after cave tubing and the Mayan ruins, I would be done with Belize. On a positive note dinner was a little better tonight, still not great, but we are not going to starve LOL!

 

my comment:

 

Now... seems if the Carnival buses wouldn't have a problem getting back to the ship , VIV tours people would miss the ship

[klpsmom]

We had a wonderful experience with them and I would highly recommend.

 

They were on time, their vans were decent with working a/c, our tour guide, David, was awesome and informative and his partner, Roc, was equally great.

 

We arrived at Xialba and were informed that Roc had ridden ahead and had already delivered ALL 14 TUBES to the river, so we did not have to carry our tubes during the 30 minute hike! We were so grateful! They do a max of 8 people per guide.

 

The tour was awesome and we are so glad we did it.

 

They do have the best tubes, hands down, w/ mesh and head rest. We were also the first group to arrive and the first in the river.

 

They were fun, energetic, friendly and professional!

[mara93]

Yay, great news! We'll be using them next year.

[bcommander1]

I'm in good physical condition, but I am 6' 5'' and weigh 275 pounds. Will I be too big for the tubes - or will I "bottom out" while trying to float?