Royal cancels Private Island Beach Break for Belize

[SAHMKC]

I was just wondering if anyone else cruising to Belize has had their private island beach break cancelled? I have no clue as to why this has been cancelled. We are sailing in March. Unfortunately this was the only excursion we wanted to do in Belize. We have checked the website and it is no longer offered.

[BillOh]

It would be pure speculation, and I could come up with several possible answers. Do you know the company that put it on? You may find it is still available privately. You won't get anything but a cann'ed answer from RC. The tour company may have not performed up to RC's expectations, or the profit margin was too low.

[SAHMKC]

It would be pure speculation, and I could come up with several possible answers. Do you know the company that put it on? You may find it is still available privately. You won't get anything but a cann'ed answer from RC. The tour company may have not performed up to RC's expectations, or the profit margin was too low.

 

Yes - that's exactly what I got - a canned answer from RCI. The problem with doing an excursion in Belize that it not through RCI is that it's a tender port. So we will be last priority to get off the ship - especially since we don't have any special status either. Also Belize does not have a great reputation right now and I don't really want to chance things on our own. Honestly, we are thinking of booking a different cruise now. I'm not going to pay for a port that is completely a wasted day for us. Our main reason for cruising was to go to nice beaches.

[LMaxwell]

The problem with doing an excursion in Belize that it not through RCI is that it's a tender port. So we will be last priority to get off the ship - especially since we don't have any special status either.

 

I don't believe that higher tier status relates to priority tendering. I may be wrong about this, been a while since I was at a tender port. Yes, those with excursions booked through the line do get priority, but you are not automatically beat down to the bottom for being a new cruiser.

 

What cruise/date is this?

[GTO-Girl]

Yes - that's exactly what I got - a canned answer from RCI. The problem with doing an excursion in Belize that it not through RCI is that it's a tender port. So we will be last priority to get off the ship - especially since we don't have any special status either. Also Belize does not have a great reputation right now and I don't really want to chance things on our own. Honestly, we are thinking of booking a different cruise now. I'm not going to pay for a port that is completely a wasted day for us. Our main reason for cruising was to go to nice beaches.

 

Belize is one of those ports I would never consider doing an excursion that was not through the ship. It is not one of my favorite places......

[SAHMKC]

 

What cruise/date is this?

 

The LOS March 15 sailing.

[cb at sea]

Unless there is a big need to be 1st off the ship, there's not a huge crowd after the 1st tender or two! Just get in line, and hop on the next tender! The entire ship doesn't even get off at all ports...and folks (like us!) aren't usually in a hurry....we've never had more than 5-10 mins. wait for the next tender.

 

Have you checked out Belize online, or in a guidebook? That may give you some beach ideas.

[reallyhooked]

I was just wondering if anyone else cruising to Belize has had their private island beach break cancelled? I have no clue as to why this has been cancelled. We are sailing in March. Unfortunately this was the only excursion we wanted to do in Belize. We have checked the website and it is no longer offered.

 

Could be not enough people signed up.

[BecciBoo]

We have never had a problem getting a tender, never had to wait going nor coming and "ONLY" do non ship excursions and have never had a problem with ECO tours through Island Marketing, they are located right at port and the island they go to is Goff's Caye which is fabulous or Caye Caulker. You might consider Googling them. We've been to Belize 4 times and love it.:D

Edited December 26, 2013 by BecciBoo

[BillOh]

Could be not enough people signed up.

 

March is kind of early for that kind of cancellation. Sometimes Royal doesn't even tell its shore partners it canceled them. We we first went to Key West in 2010 Royal used one company for shuttle/tours of the area, but based on info from the KeyWest board here we went with City View and loved it. When we booked our Oct 13 cruise we saw City View was an official excursion partner and we booked it for the same price. About 2 months ahead they canceled that. We checked with City view (nice people, great communicators) and they weren't aware that RC had canceled us/them.

 

Belize is reported to have great diving/snorkeling which I won't know because my excursion there was canceled, but that was by equipment failure by the operator. Other people have enjoyed the Cave Tubing here and reported better tours and lower prices with the local operators.

[Cruise2014Fanatic]

March is kind of early for that kind of cancellation. Sometimes Royal doesn't even tell its shore partners it canceled them. We we first went to Key West in 2010 Royal used one company for shuttle/tours of the area, but based on info from the KeyWest board here we went with City View and loved it. When we booked our Oct 13 cruise we saw City View was an official excursion partner and we booked it for the same price. About 2 months ahead they canceled that. We checked with City view (nice people, great communicators) and they weren't aware that RC had canceled us/them.

 

Belize is reported to have great diving/snorkeling which I won't know because my excursion there was canceled, but that was by equipment failure by the operator. Other people have enjoyed the Cave Tubing here and reported better tours and lower prices with the local operators.

 

This topic is on the Belize board too. Looks like Banister Island was just sold... That's why you are getting the cancellation.

[SAHMKC]

This topic is on the Belize board too. Looks like Banister Island was just sold... That's why you are getting the cancellation.

 

Thanks! That's is something that actually makes sense. I just don't understand why RCI didn't tell it's customer service people that information, so they could explain it to the cruisers' whose excursion was cancelled. Or they could have included that information in our email. I wonder since our cruise is still pretty far out if they will add something comparable or if the new owners of Bannister island will re-open it to cruisers.

[Trekker954]

I'm going to be there the first week in February and was planning to book this as I have done it before. Its about the only excursion I do thru the ship for any sailing. It is no longer showing to book on my reservation site.

 

its great as they take you directly to the island and its only a 15 minute ride. Otherwise, you have to tender to Belize City, which one time we did that it was a 45 minute bumpy ride only to find out our cave tubing was cancelled b/c the river was too high. we got right back on the tender as Belize is a crap hole.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Trekker954

[Cruise2014Fanatic]

I'm going to be there the first week in February and was planning to book this as I have done it before. Its about the only excursion I do thru the ship for any sailing. It is still showing availability to book on my reservation site.

 

its great as they take you directly to the island and its only a 15 minute ride. Otherwise, you have to tender to Belize City, which one time we did that it was a 45 minute bumpy ride only to find out our cave tubing was cancelled b/c the river was too high. we got right back on the tender as Belize is a crap hole.

 

Youth I have other plans, I looked on RCLs page and it isn't available any longer for my cruise... Navigator in March '14. We are doing Goffs Caye instead. Did banister island last time... It was ok, but was looking for a new adventure. Goffs looks pretty cool... Not much there... Kinda like a bump of sand in the middle of nowhere.

[missymatt]

We did the Geoff's Caye and it was the best thing we have ever done! Loved every minute of it.

[DandDM]

We did a non-ship cave tubing excursion at Belize (on Norwegian, though). Had a horrible time getting off the ship as the ship tours got priority. When we did get off, only about half the people were on the bus so we waited even longer. Ended up leaving the port two hours late. The tour operators were so worried about getting us back on time that everything was rushed, making the tour unpleasant. Don't think I would do another private tour at Belize unless it was very short and we had a big cushion on time before the ship left.

 

The tour company had sent us emails prior asking us to get off the ship as quickly as possible - they were well aware of the problem.

Edited December 27, 2013 by DandDM
typo

[BillOh]

This topic is on the Belize board too. Looks like Banister Island was just sold... That's why you are getting the cancellation.

 

Ah, good info from the port of call section! Sounds like a winner.