Harvest Caye- very disappointed.

[PhillyTravelBug]

Hi, Could you recommend your cave tubing vendor or was it through Norwegian? Thank you!

Sorry, just came across this thread again, we booked our excursion directly through NCL.

[onecorgilover]

I am soooo glad we went in September. We did the cave tubing and zip lining in the jungle. It was an hour drive inland and got to see the country while hearing all about Belize from our tour guide. This stop was the highlight of the trip for me.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience,

 

Joe,

What tour guide did you use for Harvest Caye. We are looking for a private tour to visit the locals away from this man made beach. Thank you!

 

Nevermind.....I saw your last post.

[Kat1824]

Yes, we do have a Cabana. I'm thinking we can definitely get lunch for less than $30/person. And I saw one menu with bottles of wine being less than $20, so we might we do one of those.

 

 

We will see you on Sunday morning either in the waiting Haven waiting area or the lounge! I'm going to try to remember for us to have Mardi Gras beads on then.

 

We cruised there Labor Day week not disappointed in the island didn't care for the beach but get off ship early if u want chairs and food was pricey but we had 2 lunches for about $40 and 2 sodas. Drinks are $9.75. The pool is really nice.

[CRAustin]

We loved it and have a beach cabana booked again for Nov. Private bathroom and shower. Air conditioned, great service and Moët was like 50 a bottle🥂🥂

 

 

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[gorbeduck]

We LOVED the float boats as a fun little diversion upon arrival. We're returning in a few weeks, and will likely rent again with the kids. Go to the 6min mark in this video:

 

dCuYBD6-J6c

Thank you for your video, very informative! Beautifully done!

No Margaritaville. There's a place called the Landshark Bar & Grill.

 

Also to the OP, you didn't mention what ship you were on, but wasn't O'Sheehans an option for lunch on board?

 

 

Tracy

 

 

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[HokiePoq]

I am soooo glad we went in September. We did the cave tubing and zip lining in the jungle. It was an hour drive inland and got to see the country while hearing all about Belize from our tour guide. This stop was the highlight of the trip for me.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience,

 

Thank you for clearing this up for me. It sounded like there were no excursions. Every excursion we've taken from Belize City has been great....Lamanai for one. Cave tubing is still on the bucket list...DH would like the zip line.

[Cruisingfor40]

Was there in January, and can't freaking wait to go back again in October! I had absolutely no issue with nothing being included and not using the room key for anything. We brought our cc and cash for that reason. The frozen, slushy drinks that already have rum in them are AMAZING, and you can get a rum floater as well. Those drinks were NO joke and very much did the job. I had the unlimited drink package on the ship, but these paid drinks were my favorite by far. The people working there were hilarious! I loved the beach as it had my favorite kind of seashell EVERYWHERE. This time, my DD is going, and she will be parasailing. I will have a slushie drink in my hand, straight up chillin!!!

[uneamie]

Was there in January, and can't freaking wait to go back again in October! I had absolutely no issue with nothing being included and not using the room key for anything. We brought our cc and cash for that reason. The frozen, slushy drinks that already have rum in them are AMAZING, and you can get a rum floater as well. Those drinks were NO joke and very much did the job. I had the unlimited drink package on the ship, but these paid drinks were my favorite by far. The people working there were hilarious! I loved the beach as it had my favorite kind of seashell EVERYWHERE. This time, my DD is going, and she will be parasailing. I will have a slushie drink in my hand, straight up chillin!!!

LOL well if "drinks" are anyone's priority then they won't be disappointed. That said, we have the UBP so if that is all Harvest Cay has to offer we might as well stay on the ship. :cool::D

[Cruisingfor40]

Stay on the ship...leaves a lounger open for me 😘

 

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[uneamie]

Stay on the ship...leaves a lounger open for me 😘

 

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Yeah me too!

[Still Dreaming]

We did the electric boats when we were there last winter. My husband is tall, bad knees and a larger middle. The guy helping him get in boat said I had that tummy but now that I have this job I have lost 40 lbs. He said that he only worked 1 day a week on the mainland so This made his wife very happy that he now worked 6 days a week! So our tourist dollars do matter to the people working on the island.

Every beach is different in the Caribbean, some awesome and some just have that beautiful ocean to look at, and swim in.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I was really looking forward to this port. We reserved a cabana for our 9/2 Escape sailing. Harvest Caye ended up being our last port due to Irma... but that's another story! I was impressed with the cabana, though not the ants which were all in the (included) fruit tray and especially the fact that they were totally out of all 3 types of canned beer. I was not interested in their draft offerings as I'm skeptical of what I'd get, and passed on the frozen options.

 

The excuse I was given regarding their lack of canned beer was that we were the first ship to dock there in 15 days due to issues relating to hurricane Harvey... so who knows!

 

I'd like to give it a second try if we ever return there, but time will tell.

 

Tom

[Cruisingfor40]

We did the electric boats when we were there last winter. My husband is tall, bad knees and a larger middle. The guy helping him get in boat said I had that tummy but now that I have this job I have lost 40 lbs. He said that he only worked 1 day a week on the mainland so This made his wife very happy that he now worked 6 days a week! So our tourist dollars do matter to the people working on the island.

Every beach is different in the Caribbean, some awesome and some just have that beautiful ocean to look at, and swim in.

 

This is another thing I like. The folks working are not NCL employees, they are Belizean :)

[CruiseToSmile]

When you read NCL online, you CAN book Belize City, Belize on Breakaway, Pearl, and Jade as of the date I'm writing. NCL does go both ports. I just read that!

So... Read descriptions, you'll easily see the differences in Harvest Caye, Belize and and Belize City, Belize. Just as there are differences between any other locations/ports one may visit.

It's important to READ about port calls. Then you won't be disappointed.

No matter which port in Belize, Belizeans are the work force. Both on Harvest Caye and Belize City. They get the benefit of your dollars spent.

Educate yourself about where you're going. YOU choose what type of environment you want at the port by booking a port that meets your desires or needs. Makes life more fun. And again, NCL does go both ports. I just read that!

[the_dylaness]

[quote name=Vacationdreamer

 

Yes coarse sand with broken shells, I did not like the beach at all. Plenty of chairs. Pool are was nice but chairs were more limited there.

 

 

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The broken, jagged shells were really bothersome. I mean, the coarse sand wasn't exactly nice, but the broken shells were painful! I was overall not in love with Harvest Caye. My kids did really like the splash pad. (But who flies to get to a boat to get to an island... to go to a splash pad not that much unlike the one at the community center less than a mile from our house?)

[POA1]

I don't think we would have liked Harvest Caye without a Deluxe Beach Villa. It was a little expensive because mid October is the high season in that particular part of the world.

 

[GateGuardian]

So is Harvest Caye more like Amber Cove or Labadee?

[tiger belle]

I recently returned from my first NCL cruise with an altered itinerary which included HC. We ended up as a group of 8 renting one of the luxury beach villas for the day. For 8 of us it was $800; and that didn't included drinks or food. I found it somewhat pricey but not outlandish. The facility was excellent, as was the food and beverage service. Also, it was nice having a private bathroom and air conditioned living area--as well as basically a private beach with beach chairs, a hammock, etc. What ruined it for us was the weather. The entire morning was rainy, and we only got about 2 hours of beach time with partly cloudy conditions. Of course, that wasn't NCL's fault, but it was a risk and we got the short end of the deal. Had it not been raining most of the day, we could have enjoyed what HC had to offer. Instead, we took shelter most of the time in the villa (where at least we did have wi-fi). The pool area did look very nice, and most in my party agreed that if we ever returned to HC, we wouldn't rent the expensive villas again but would instead try a pool cabana. As for the long walk to HC entrance from the ship, it would have been OK except for the fact that it was rainy--true it was covered most of the way, but the sights along the long walk were not enjoyable because of the rain, thus making the walk seem like we were trudging there.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I recently returned from my first NCL cruise with an altered itinerary which included HC...

 

The facility was excellent, as was the food and beverage service. ...

 

Our experience was the opposite of yours. We had very slow service and sub-buffet quality food.

 

I guess there's both good days and bad. Consistency is a good thing, though that's absent here. Fortunately (owing to your experience), it's not consistently bad!

 

:)

 

Tom

[tiger belle]

Tom, I am also a stickler for consistency, so it is disappointing to hear of your negative experience...you were in the luxury beach villas and still had this poor service? did you complain to guest services--I am curious?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Tom, I am also a stickler for consistency, so it is disappointing to hear of your negative experience...you were in the luxury beach villas and still had this poor service? did you complain to guest services--I am curious?

 

Yes, we had the (far) end unit. Great location. Very much enjoyed the space itself. We were the last to arrive for the day, so I'm not sure if that's how we ended up with the one on the end (but I'd actually ask for that location again if we ever give it a try again). I'd say we stayed perhaps two hours before we headed back to the ship.

 

We did not complain, but did find it interesting that both the woman who brought us to the unit on the golf cart AND our "butler" (or whatever they're called there) both made a point to remind us that tips were not included with our cabana rental... I don't really care for people to "remind" me that they'd like a tip! In the end I gave them each ten undeserved dollars. If the service, drink options (out of canned beer), and quality of food had been better - my tip would have as well.

 

Tom

[Twinzma]

I just read one post about ants. Exactly how bad are the ants at HC? I am highly allergic epi-pen and all, one day my obituary will read "killed by ant"! I ask because there are other excursions I could sign up for that would limit my exposure if the beach has too many.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I just read one post about ants. Exactly how bad are the ants at HC? I am highly allergic epi-pen and all, one day my obituary will read "killed by ant"! I ask because there are other excursions I could sign up for that would limit my exposure if the beach has too many.

 

Those which I saw (which had been drawn to the fruit in our cabana) looked like small black ants - definitely not the more aggressive fire ants we have here in Florida. Not sure if that makes any difference or not in your case. I didn't see any others, but then again we didn't stick around that long.

 

Tom

[the_dylaness]

No idea if it is helpful but we saw no ants there in October. Sorry to hear your allergy is so severe!

[cruise4kicks]

Sorry to hear some haven't liked Harvest Caye.

 

We had a very pleasant time there last December. Plenty of chairs. One of our party really enjoyed stand-up paddleboarding.

 

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.