Tendering into the port in Belize City and excursion plans

[ntourtelotte]

I'm very new to this and starting to think about making plans for the port days. We are sailing the Breeze the first week of April.

 

I've heard that sometimes lines to tender into the port can be long. If I book an excursion through Carnival, how long before the excursion is scheduled to start do we need to get in line to tender? Where do we actually meet the group?

 

If I book an outside tour, how long before we are scheduled to meet our tour guide do we need to get in line to tender?

 

Is this a port where I am better off booking through Carnival than a private tour because of logistics? I'm partly thinking about my tween/early teen kids who aren't particularly early risers in the morning so don't want to set up a disaster where we miss something. I am thinking about either cave tubing or visiting a Mayan site.

[BoDidly]

Belize City is a dangerous place. I never do Carnival excursions ,but in Belize you should ! Otherwise stay on the ship.

Tendering, if non Platinum or Diamond you will be required to meet in a selected area on the ship, there you will receive a tender ticket for debarkation.The Port area is safe enough, encased with fencing. Shopping here for items are fair market prices .

[skiingj]

Five years ago Thanksgiving week on the Liberty I did Cave Tubing with Viv tours. Myself and wife were in our early 40's and my mother was 75. We did the cave tubing tour and felt safe. It was excellent. However I would probably not venture very far from the terminal. It was not difficult meeting the tour group near the terminal and we had plenty of time to get there. We did need to proceed to the ship meeting location immediately upon arrival but we did have time to kill before the tour left, maybe 30-45 minutes.

[E@syPe@zy]

I agree with BoDidly...this is a port to get a ship excursion. There are safety concerns and I have also read about issues with transportation and breakdowns and therefore delaying the tour. This is one port that I would not want to be left by the ship. Pay extra and consider it insurance.

I've done the ruins and it was very interesting....just make sure your kiddos are on board for it....it's a long day with travel to and back from the ruins.

Edited November 15, 2017 by E@syPe@zy

[E@syPe@zy]

Oh...another reason to use the ship tours....if the tenders are unable to make the trip to shore due to weather, you will get your $$ refunded to you for the ship tours that you arranged. If you do a third party and they require a deposit, they may or may not refund your money. If you do for some reason, decide to arrange a tour with a third party, do a lot of research about the company and make sure you feel totally comfortable with them.

[Keith1010]

I would use the ships excursions in Belize.

 

I would not feel comfortable on my own.

 

You could also check the ports of call board to see if there are recommendations for a private tour but this is one that I think a ships tour would be best.

 

Keith

[stargate fan]

I'm very new to this and starting to think about making plans for the port days. We are sailing the Breeze the first week of April.

 

I've heard that sometimes lines to tender into the port can be long. If I book an excursion through Carnival, how long before the excursion is scheduled to start do we need to get in line to tender? Where do we actually meet the group?

 

If I book an outside tour, how long before we are scheduled to meet our tour guide do we need to get in line to tender?

 

Is this a port where I am better off booking through Carnival than a private tour because of logistics? I'm partly thinking about my tween/early teen kids who aren't particularly early risers in the morning so don't want to set up a disaster where we miss something. I am thinking about either cave tubing or visiting a Mayan site.

We just returned home Saturday after a week on Glory to these ports.

We booked a zip lining and cave tubing tour through cavetubing dot bz. It was amazing!!

We were emailed with info on when and where to meet off the tender. The drive to zipping took about an hour and we learned so much about Belize and its people. The ride back to the pier from cave tubing was about 50 minutes.

I disagree with everyone who says to only book Carnival tours in Belize. A reputable private company is just as safe as any cruise line tour. (Which really are just local tour companies hired by the cruise lines.) Regarding missing the ship due to tender issues, taxi issues, etc., again every reputable company will do everything to get passengers back to the ship. They would not risk having their business fail. This is their livelihood.

 

That said, our rule is to book private tours unless travel time to and from the excursion site is more than two hours in either direction.

Have fun planning.

[ntourtelotte]

Thank you all for your thoughts so far. Can anyone tell me--if a Carnival excursion says the departure time is 8:45, does that mean meeting at 8:45 ON the ship and then tendering or does that mean standing in the tender line and meeting OFF the ship at 8:45? If the latter, what time do we need to get in the tender line?

[wms99]

We were on Dream last week and had to tender at Grand Cayman. Here is my story about long tender lines and waits. The ship arrived at about 6:30am in port and tenders were swarming before the anchors went down. Our excursion tickets said to meet in the Encore fwd at 7:15, so since we are old and slow, we hobbled up to the Encore at about 6:45 so we could sit, play cards, and people watch until time. As we walked in the Encore, a lady said that we made a full tender and lets go. Didn't even get to sit down. Straight to the boat and on shore before 7:00. Truthfully, we would be happy riding the tender back and forth all day. Nice breeze and beautiful water.

[maryred]

Thank you all for your thoughts so far. Can anyone tell me--if a Carnival excursion says the departure time is 8:45, does that mean meeting at 8:45 ON the ship and then tendering or does that mean standing in the tender line and meeting OFF the ship at 8:45? If the latter, what time do we need to get in the tender line?

Belize can be an odd duck of a tender port with at least 7 anchor points, the nearest to shore is a quick 20 minute run to shore while the furthest from shore is about 45 minutes away.

In the case of tender ports many times the ticket time is the last possible moment to meet your group on the ship, if you miss that check-in go to the Guest Services desk to see if they can help you. In some cases a special direct to tour tender is used and may not go to the regular tender dock. Special instructions will either come with your tender tickets or be published in the printed FunTimes, and usually will have the tour groups meet in an on board lounge starting an hour before the tour time. Once the on board check in is complete, a crew member will escort passengers on these excursions to the tenders ahead of even diamonds.

[cruzeluver]

If you book a Carnival-sponsored excursion, they will have you meet on the ship (usually in the theater) and escort you as a group to the tenders. Your excursion tickets will be in your stateroom and will have meeting times and instructions printed on them.

 

Nothing wrong with independent excursion companies in Belize or elsewhere. There are a number of them with excellent reputations that will assemble smaller groups and possibly include more but charge less.

 

The "dangers" of Belize City have been greatly exaggerated by the cruise lines for years in an effort to encourage booking excursions through them. While not particularly scenic or "touristy" one is not seriously risking death or dismemberment by walking around town, as we have done.

[ohiowilly]

There are pros and cons to using ship's excursions vs. independent excursions in every port.

 

If you book a Carnival excursion, you are given priority over those either without an excursion, or with an independent excursion. We've found that it's maybe a different of 15-20 minutes, at most. In many cases, the earliest tenders are mixed with Carnival excursions, Diamond/Platinum cruisers, and independents.

 

Tender "tickets"/stickers, are assigned from a central location - on many ships, it's at the Alchemy Bar.

 

We visited Belize in September, took an independent excursion with a group of 20, and were one of the earliest tenders off the ship. We had a great excursion, saved a bunch of $ in the process, and had no issues at all.

 

If your excursion departure time lists 8:45 departure, that's normally the departure time from the land-side. Carnival excursion ticket holders are normally asked to meet in the theater at a certain time,(somewhat earlier) and everyone goes on the same tender.

 

I wouldn't wander around outside the port area of Belize City on my own, but I wouldn't wander around many cities here at home, either. Common sense is the rule of thumb.

 

Whatever you choose to do, enjoy yourself!

[Doggielover68]

Thank you all for your thoughts so far. Can anyone tell me--if a Carnival excursion says the departure time is 8:45, does that mean meeting at 8:45 ON the ship and then tendering or does that mean standing in the tender line and meeting OFF the ship at 8:45? If the latter, what time do we need to get in the tender line?

 

 

 

No need to worry about the time. Your excursion tickets will tell you when and where to meet. 8:45 is the departure time. From my experience, all of the tours meet in the theater and you are given a numbered tender sticker based on whatever tour you are going on. When they call your number, you go where they tell you to. It's all very easy. Don't worry :)

 

Also I agree with the others, Belize is one of the ports where I would never book a private excursion. On our first trip there we had nothing planned, so we went to the port area via tender and wandered to Belize city. Nothing bad happened, but let's just say it was uncomfortable and I won't be doing that again.

 

 

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[Gamecock_Cruiser]

Belize seemed VERY sketchy to us. We never left the port area. If we go back and decide to do an excursion, we will make sure it is a carnival sponsored excursion.

[JaxsMama]

We left the cruise port and walked around the town for several hours. It was so sketchy my husband made me change into the tennis shoes I had in the back pack in case we needed to start running. About that time a local cop stopped us and recommended we head back to the port area immediately. We have that stop on an upcoming cruise but are planning to stay on the ship and enjoy an empty pool. It doesn't seem worth it to us to tender to the port with a 5 year in tow.

 

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[carrieluvsgreg]

Belize City is a dangerous place. I never do Carnival excursions ,but in Belize you should ! Otherwise stay on the ship.

Tendering, if non Platinum or Diamond you will be required to meet in a selected area on the ship, there you will receive a tender ticket for debarkation.The Port area is safe enough, encased with fencing. Shopping here for items are fair market prices .

I tend to disagree... I booked one of our all time favorite excursions with a private company in Belize. The resort was called Jaguar Paw. The excursion was a zip lining and cave tubing excursion that included lunch. The sent a private driver to pick us up at the Hilton which was near to the port. We walked from the port to the Hilton without any issue. The excursion was just my family of 4 and our private ride was in a SUV with A/C. Our driver was a very pleasant young man that knew the area well and made our drive to the resort educational. We zip lined first, then did the cave tubing and after we changed we had a wonderful Belizian lunch. The price for all of this was $89/pp. This was several years ago as it was our daughter's 16th birthday cruise and she is now 24... but I remember that the best comparable price I could get through the cruise line was $129/pp.

Like I said- 14 cruises under our belt and this one had one of the very best excursions ever!

[LostPuppy]

Never had a problem in Belize outside the gates. Really didn't seem that bad at all.

 

Last time we took a water taxi to Caye Caulker to do some snorkeling and then had a great lunch/drinks at Wish Willy and the Lazy Lizard on the Caye. Came back via water taxi with an hour to spare.... Plan on doing it again next time we're there.

[Saint Greg]

I would disagree with those saying don't get off the ship if you don't have an excursion planned. If you have never been I would at least get off and walk down to the Belize sign and the lighthouse. You can get a picture of the Belize sign with the ship in the background. There are some shops in the port area. You can get you some fake Ray Bans if that interests you. There are a couple places to eat in the port area...and if you're a beer drinker, try their local Belikin Beer. I did hate the tender ride over though. It took at least 20 minutes. The ride back was on a much faster boat 10mins.

[Saint Greg]

Never had a problem in Belize outside the gates. Really didn't seem that bad at all.

 

Last time we took a water taxi to Caye Caulker to do some snorkeling and then had a great lunch/drinks at Wish Willy and the Lazy Lizard on the Caye. Came back via water taxi with an hour to spare.... Plan on doing it again next time we're there.

 

How long was the water taxi to Caye Caulker? I've wanted to go there but it looked too far. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a plan to get back with an hour to spare though. If it can be done and get back with 2 hours to spare I'd do it.

[nybumpkin]

We've been to Beize twice. First time we booked a private cave tubing excursion. We had no concerns about getting back to the port in time - as others have said, these tour operators can't risk their reputations with getting back late and having people miss the ship. The second time we did a Carnival excursion that got us back to port about 1/2 hour before "last tender." Well, it seemed that most folks wanted to be on that last tender - the line was really long. Some people went to one of the bars at the pier to wait for the line to shorten.

[soapbxking]

This was 3 years ago, but our Carnival Excursion left straight from the ship, never tendered or went downtown and brought us directly back to the boat!

[robin13]

I first went to Belize about 6 years ago with my mother on a NCL cruise. Since my mother is up in age we decided to just do a city tour so we could say that we have seen Belize. We didn't book the city tour with the cruise line as it was just a last minute decision. The tour was about 1 1/2 hours long and $25 a person but the sites they took us to were heartbreaking; bars on the windows, trash and poverty everywhere. I kept thinking to myself where are the nice parts of Belize? After talking to some people they all said that you need to go into the country and that is where the beauty of the island is. After the tour was over we bought some souvenirs at the port and then got back on the ship. I then told myself that I would never go to Belize again.

 

Fast forward to September 2017. I was with some friends on the Breeze and they wanted to do a Mayan ruin in Belize. So I thought I would give Belize another chance and I'm glad that I did. We did book the tour with Carnival as the Mayan ruins were 2 hours away each way. There was no way I was going to take a chance on an independent operator as Carnival will not hold the ship if you are late getting back. I did finally see the beauty of the island and I even walked up the ruin which is the largest one in Belize. Very big accomplishment for me and one that I will not forget for a long time.