Starfish Island - Carnival's private island in Belize?

[taymiss2]

Am trying to plan what will be my fourth trip to Belize. Have done cave tubing, ruins, and water taxi to Caye Caulker. Every single time I try to decide what to do I see the "beach excursions" and wonder why I haven't done a beach because I am all about the beach. Then I read the reviews, remember why and then find something else to do.

 

I really enjoyed Caye Caulker and have no problem doing that again. ( on another note my husband was less than thrilled with the water taxi and has no desire to repeat the experience, lol. I just read a book and the time passed quickly for me)

 

DH will not be with me on this next trip so I could do Caye Caulker again but am hoping to do something new. The pictures of what we "think" is Starfish island excursion look ok. But if it is Bannister island, it didn't get such great reviews either. Except for Mistgirly, she liked bannister island. ;)

 

Anyway, hope someone comes back and posts after doing this excursion. I don't ususally book ship excursions but the perk of being picked up and dropped off at the ship and avoiding that long tender again sounds pretty good at this point.

[andcar]

Yes, that helps a lot. Thank you! I think we will go with the Starfish Island excursion. It does say on the Starfish Island description that it was designed especially for Carnival customers. :)

 

I thoroughly searched the internet looking for Starfish/Bannister Island. There was a reference to a sale of Bannister Island to someone on an HGTV show but then it looks like it could have been on the market again (although the dates weren't really clear on that and it may have been the listing before the HGTV sale). So I could never find any reference to Carnival buying it but it does say that thing about exclusive to Carnival on the excursion page. The pictures really look like Bannister Island and there are so many bad reviews but one would hope Carnival has improved it if they really purchased it for their exclusive use. We are probably going to book it for our cruise the week of Oct. 19th and I will post a review after we sail, but if anyone goes before then please write a review.

[andcar]

Am trying to plan what will be my fourth trip to Belize. Have done cave tubing, ruins, and water taxi to Caye Caulker. Every single time I try to decide what to do I see the "beach excursions" and wonder why I haven't done a beach because I am all about the beach. Then I read the reviews, remember why and then find something else to do.

 

I really enjoyed Caye Caulker and have no problem doing that again. ( on another note my husband was less than thrilled with the water taxi and has no desire to repeat the experience, lol. I just read a book and the time passed quickly for me)

 

DH will not be with me on this next trip so I could do Caye Caulker again but am hoping to do something new. The pictures of what we "think" is Starfish island excursion look ok. But if it is Bannister island, it didn't get such great reviews either. Except for Mistgirly, she liked bannister island. ;)

 

Anyway, hope someone comes back and posts after doing this excursion. I don't ususally book ship excursions but the perk of being picked up and dropped off at the ship and avoiding that long tender again sounds pretty good at this point.

 

I agree with the being picked up at the ship, that is my main reason for considering a Carnival excursion. I didn't see that it specifically said they pick you up from the ship though. Do all the "water" excursions pick up from the ship?

[andcar]

Just posted this on the Belize forum but I wanted to add it to the Carnival one too. There is a review on the Carnival site now under the Starfish excursion. They gave it 5 stars and said it was worth going. I almost booked it and then I saw it only lasts from 8 to noon and that seemed so short. Kind of a waste when we are in port from 8 to 5. What more does it cost them to let people stay longer? Maybe less time that they would be shopping in the port although I have no interest in that. And it includes lunch so it doesn't even help that you would be back on the ship in time to have lunch. It's frustrating that there doesn't seem to be an all day beach trip offered that has good reviews.

[CrimsonTideGal]

Carnival used to book day trips to Goffs Caye but cant see this being a private island. A great trip though. Book it in port.

 

There was also a day trip to Caye Caulker but I think that closed a couple of years ago. Perhaps that's the new "private island"

 

I took a private tour to Golfs Caye. The best excursion I have taken on 8 cruises. The snorkeling was amazing. Loved being on such a tiny island with no other land in sight.

[bgvic24]

"Starfish Island" is in fact the Old Bannister Island..... The Bannister Island sign still hangs when you pull up..... Island has been renamed for "Cruise excursions"...

[andcar]

"Starfish Island" is in fact the Old Bannister Island..... The Bannister Island sign still hangs when you pull up..... Island has been renamed for "Cruise excursions"...

 

So have you been there since it changed? Were you on a Carnival excursion? Did the facilities look the same? I wonder if it really is only for Carnival excursions as it says in the excursion description.

[mapsmith]

I am not sure, but possibly the reason for the renaming is I think I remember that a hurricane wiped out much of the Infrastructure on Bannister. If Carnival bought it and rebuilt it is probably a good thing.

[shawne71]

Just posted this on the Belize forum but I wanted to add it to the Carnival one too. There is a review on the Carnival site now under the Starfish excursion. They gave it 5 stars and said it was worth going. I almost booked it and then I saw it only lasts from 8 to noon and that seemed so short. Kind of a waste when we are in port from 8 to 5. What more does it cost them to let people stay longer? Maybe less time that they would be shopping in the port although I have no interest in that. And it includes lunch so it doesn't even help that you would be back on the ship in time to have lunch. It's frustrating that there doesn't seem to be an all day beach trip offered that has good reviews.

 

Someone added another review. We will probably end up booking the Starfish excursion closer to our cruise.

[bitofun]

We are taking the Dream in October and I am looking for shore excursions. I was looking at the Carnival sponsored ones to hopefully get the tender right from the ship. There is one called Starfish Island Getaway with Lunch. It says it is an island created exclusively for Carnival guests. I can't find any reviews for it on any of the websites. There is still an "Island Beach Break with Lunch" that has a lot of reviews (but is listed as New) so I think they must be different. Has anyone done this excursion or heard of Starfish Island?

Please come back and post a review if you do take this excursion. I just booked it for me and my sister on our April 2015 cruise. Very good recent reviews on TripAdvisor which also do indicate that Starfish Island was Banister Island in the past.

[shawne71]

The excursions for "Island Beach Break" have been removed from our September 2015 cruise. Starfish Island is the only beach excursion available now. :eek:

[snorkler8]

Please come back and post a review if you do take this excursion. I just booked it for me and my sister on our April 2015 cruise. Very good recent reviews on TripAdvisor which also do indicate that Starfish Island was Banister Island in the past.

 

My DH and myself just did this excursion a week ago. It was ok, not great. I would probably do something else if we did this cruise again. It has a nice relaxing feel and an area roped off with no surf for swimming...which BTW has two dolphins that stay and swim there. There were hammocks and chairs, clean restrooms...the the lunch wasn't very good. There is a little place where they have some starfish to look at and can be picked up ( poor things were trying to escape) we got rained out so the last hour we just sat under cover until it was time to go back to the ship. We were soaked to the bone. All in all it was fun but after we did Maya Key in Roatan it paled in comparison.

 

I'm guessing this is what they used to call Banister island. As we pulled in they told us there were two resident dogs. One white and one banister, and the picture posted a few posts up look like where we were. Hope this helps!

[jengamom]

Bannister Island was sold, not to a cruise line, but to a couple who made improvements and renamed it Starfish Island. Carnival has a contract to use it as their private island in Belize. Royal Caribbean is also now using it as their private island excursion again (they had temporarily switched to water caye while Bannister island was getting fixed up, but have now switched back).

[griz400]

Starfish island is the old Bannister island, we were there on a Norwegian excursion a couple weeks ago,They took us snorkeling for a couple hrs, and then to Starfish island a couple hrs, was ok, 1 giftshop, 1 bar, they now have a Caribbean style lunch for 10.00 ... frozen drinks are 10.00 .

Here is excursion we did with NCL .. Barrier Reef & Snorkel Island Beach Break

http://www.ncl.com/excursions/search?qs=N%3D4294966728%26Ne%3D8057%26Nr%3DAND%2528p_Record_Type%253ASF%252Cp_Shorex_Status%253AAVL%2529%26Nu%3Dp_Shorex_Package_Id

[shawne71]

Thanks everyone. We have booked Starfish Island for our cruise in September 2015. A decent beach and a drink in hand is all we need! :D

[gay head]

We were in Belize last December and went to Geoffs cay.There is no beach to speak of only awooden pier that juts out into the water where people were laying our in a line sunbathing.The pictures of the beach on this private island look much better and I would do this if I went back.There is actually a beach where you can enter the water.

[mitsugirly]

So I have been trying to figure out if this is confirmed that it is in fact the old Bannister Island? I skimmed the first page, but didn't see it confirmed.

 

We were at Bannister awhile back (even after many of the complaints and saying it was not a good place to go) and we actually liked it. There were so many starfish in the water and the island itself was a decent place to spend the day. I really liked that they picked you up directly from the cruise ship instead of having to tender over to Belize and then get on another boat to get there.

 

So is it actually only a Carnival island now? I'm not sure that we would return, but I know people are always asking about it. I find it hard to believe they would limit their income to just the Carnival ships...but you never know.

 

I just recently read a post on this place that the service was really bad and when I did a search, this thread came up.

 

I have a complete review in my signature line with TONS of pictures of the place when we went...if anyone is interested and can confirm that this is the same place. :)

[bgvic24]

it is the old bannister island. carnival does not own it. a family bought it a year ago and did massive upgrades to it. good place to go.

 

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[rocking-m-cruiser]

Thanks everyone. We have booked Starfish Island for our cruise in September 2015. A decent beach and a drink in hand is all we need! :D

 

Enjoy. Last time we were there we did an excursion to the rain forest, water and land. It was nice but if I get a chance to go again I will check out this Star Fish Island. Let us know how it is. :)

[helicopter]

Bannister Island was sold and is now Starfish Island. If you want to lay on the beach, play volleyball, etc. very nice place. Beautiul water.

[RenoNanaOz]

So happy to see this post. We were looking for an excursion Belize and we chose this one so I will review when we gt back. We had originally booked Goff's Caye but cancelled due to man negative reviews. Also no beach chairs, no restaurant, only locals bringing homemade food and rum punch.

[John Reid]

We are taking the Dream in October and I am looking for shore excursions. I was looking at the Carnival sponsored ones to hopefully get the tender right from the ship. There is one called Starfish Island Getaway with Lunch. It says it is an island created exclusively for Carnival guests. I can't find any reviews for it on any of the websites. There is still an "Island Beach Break with Lunch" that has a lot of reviews (but is listed as New) so I think they must be different. Has anyone done this excursion or heard of Starfish Island?

 

If you go to this review that is currently on page one here, I believe they review Starfish as part of their overall review. Pictures are included.

 

Pride 1/25/15..Annie rolls a rhino and Annie in the sky with diamonds!

[travelsuz]

I am wondering if anyone has done this excursion recently? Is my only option to book with Carnival? I don't usually like to book with the cruise line, it is usually less with local vendors, and I can do it more on my own time :)

[gay head]

It is Bannister Island , they just renamed it.We went to Caye Caulker when we were in Belize and there isnt a sand beach, people were laying out on a wooden pier.The pictures show a white sand beach at Bannister island.I would do this excursion :