Coral Breeze Tours - awesome trip!

[Jenny in TX]

We stopped in Belize last Wednesday (10/17/18) on the Carnival Vista.  We had 12 people in our group and booked the Shark/Ray Alley tour with Coral Breeze.  Because we had a bigger group our price was discounted to $67.50/person.  We got to the dock and found Coral Breeze and were told that our group would have its own boat!  We boarded and made the 45 minute ride out to Caye Caulker.  When we were riding to Caye Caulker we saw a huge spotted eagle ray jump out of the water.  It was pretty amazing!  We also saw a dolphin.  Once we got to the island they docked right in front of Island Magic Resort/Restaurant.  We placed our lunch orders and then we left to go snorkeling and they told us when we came back they would have our food ready.  We first went to the coral gardens to snorkel.  Two guides got in the water with us and we snorkeled for about 45 minutes.  One of the guides went down and got an eel to come up so we could see it, he also brought up a conch shell and a huge hermit crab for us to see.  We saw several barracudas (one was about 4-1/2' long).  He was constantly pointing out fish and urchins and making sure we all saw them.  I have never seen so much coral in one place....it was beautiful.  After that we loaded up and went to the area where the stingrays and nurse sharks were.  I am 5'2" and even I could stand where the stingrays and sharks were.  There was a large group of both sharks and stingrays.  We stayed there for about 20 minutes and afterwards they handed out fresh pineapple, rum punch & water.  Then we headed back to the island and had about 1-1/2 hours to eat lunch and hang out until we had to leave to head back to Belize City.

 

My mother in law does not like to snorkel and she stayed on the boat and sat in the shade while we were in the water.  There was a 3rd guide who stayed on the boat the whole time and she said that he was so nice and spent the entire time telling her about life in Belize and different marine life in the water.  She said she really enjoyed talking to him.

 

The cruise ship had cancelled all of their excursions to Caye Caulker that day because it was supposed to rain.  It was an absolutely beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky and there only 2 other boats out when we were snorkeling and we were the only people at the restaurant we went to.  It was a perfect day and we are already planning a trip back to Caye Caulker.

 

I can not recommend Coral Breeze enough.  I emailed Coral Breeze several times before our trip to ask questions and Mark always replied within 30 minutes.  We will not hesitate to book with them again!  We tipped them very well at the end of the excursion.

[ABQrobin]

Sounds like a perfect day.  Thanks for posting.

[atnick11]

Awesome.  We booked a the same excursion in February.  Cant wait!

[amypintx]

Thanks for the review Jenny! I’m looking to book the same excursion and am a little confused about the times. We’re going on the Vista in March. It will be daylight savings so ship time will be an hour ahead of Belize time. The ship is in port from 8-5 so I’m assuming the last tender will be 3:30 ship time??? The tours are on Belize time at 8, 9, and 10. Do you remember what times you were in port and which tour you did?  The last time we were in Belize we went cave tubing and literally had to race to make the last tender. Hoping to not have to do that again!

[Jenny in TX]

We were in port from 8-5 also.  I think the last tender was 4:30 and we were back in plenty of time.  We even sat at the Wet Lizard and had a couple of drinks until there was no tender line and we just walked right on.

 

Email mark@coralbreezetours.com  He was so helpful and always quick to respond when I had questions.  They know what time you have to be back and get you back in plenty of time.  We did the 9am tour.  Just shoot Mark an email and tell him what ship you will be on and he will tell you what tour to book.  They are docked right at the port, so you just get off the tender and walk a short distance and they will be waiting for you.

 

We were on the Vista in October....you will love it!!

Edited January 22, 2019 by Jenny in TX

[amypintx]

On 1/22/2019 at 8:14 AM, Jenny in TX said:

We were in port from 8-5 also.  I think the last tender was 4:30 and we were back in plenty of time.  We even sat at the Wet Lizard and had a couple of drinks until there was no tender line and we just walked right on.

 

Email mark@coralbreezetours.com  He was so helpful and always quick to respond when I had questions.  They know what time you have to be back and get you back in plenty of time.  We did the 9am tour.  Just shoot Mark an email and tell him what ship you will be on and he will tell you what tour to book.  They are docked right at the port, so you just get off the tender and walk a short distance and they will be waiting for you.

 

We were on the Vista in October....you will love it!!

 

 

Thanks for the info Jenny! We’re super excited about the Vista and the excursion!

[Carnival Queen]

On 1/22/2019 at 9:14 AM, Jenny in TX said:

We were in port from 8-5 also.  I think the last tender was 4:30 and we were back in plenty of time.  We even sat at the Wet Lizard and had a couple of drinks until there was no tender line and we just walked right on.

 

Email mark@coralbreezetours.com  He was so helpful and always quick to respond when I had questions.  They know what time you have to be back and get you back in plenty of time.  We did the 9am tour.  Just shoot Mark an email and tell him what ship you will be on and he will tell you what tour to book.  They are docked right at the port, so you just get off the tender and walk a short distance and they will be waiting for you.

 

We were on the Vista in October....you will love it!!

We used Coral Breeze several times and did this tour a few years ago - they were always great.  How were the boats that took you out?  We always had nice boats with cabin area and flying bridge - but thought I read something a while back about the boats going over with bench-like seats and a long, bumpy ride?  Would love your input - thanks!

[Jenny in TX]

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 8:57 PM, Carnival Queen said:

We used Coral Breeze several times and did this tour a few years ago - they were always great.  How were the boats that took you out?  We always had nice boats with cabin area and flying bridge - but thought I read something a while back about the boats going over with bench-like seats and a long, bumpy ride?  Would love your input - thanks!

The boat we were on was a small boat although it had plenty of room for our group of 12 plus the 3 guides.  There was only one shaded area but we knew that going in and we all had hats on plus long sleeve sun shirts.  They had cushions down on the benches we sat on because it was a bumpy ride.  All of the cruise excursions for that day had been cancelled because of the "weather" although it was a beautiful day with not a cloud in site.  The told us it would be bumpy until we got in the mangroves and they were correct.  By the time we came back it was much smoother.   It is a 45 minute ride but it was gorgeous and we all enjoyed it.

[tjmaher]

I really want to do this tour.  Usually in a tender port I always tend to book directly with the cruise line but don't see it offered as an option.  With that said were you really comfortable about them getting you back to ship on time or better yet were the tour guides really good about making sure they had you back on time?  Thank you for taking the time to answer.

[Jenny in TX]

22 hours ago, tjmaher said:

I really want to do this tour.  Usually in a tender port I always tend to book directly with the cruise line but don't see it offered as an option.  With that said were you really comfortable about them getting you back to ship on time or better yet were the tour guides really good about making sure they had you back on time?  Thank you for taking the time to answer.

We have cruised for many years and I have never done an excursion through the cruise ship.  You can usually find them cheaper and much smaller groups if you go with an independent tour operator.  That said I do a lot of research and read many reviews to make sure I am being responsible and choosing someone that has been around and deals with cruise ship passengers.  This is their living.  They do not want bad press because they don't get people back in time.  In all of our cruises we have never had an issue with getting back to the ship on time.

 

When you contact them they know what time you are docking and what time you need to be back.  We were back with about an hour and a half to spare.  We found a bar at port and had a couple of drinks before getting back on the ship.  We were 100% comfortable and will book through them again in the future.

[one.new.island.a.year]

Jenny, did they pick you up in Belize City or did you have to ferry to the Cay?


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[rotomu]

We are snorkeling wit them next week, here are the instructions we got today: Location of Tour Departure: Your tour departs near Terminal 4 inside the Tourism Village in Belize City (the dock area where the cruise ship tender boats drop off their passengers). As you disembark from your tender boat, turn left and walk along the boardwalk toward Terminal 4. Just past the Village Pharmacy storefront, you will see a sign for Coral Breeze Adventure Tours (our local operations partner) and will be met by your guide.

[one.new.island.a.year]

Nice! Thank you!


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[Jenny in TX]

21 hours ago, one.new.island.a.year said:

Jenny, did they pick you up in Belize City or did you have to ferry to the Cay?


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They pick you up in port.  We docked at Terminal 2 and Coral Breeze had their boat docked at Terminal 4 which was just about a 2 minute walk if that.

[tjmaher]

Thank you for your reply.  Going to talk to my group and get this organized.  Sounds amazing.

[Domergirl]

Just booked this for our family.  We'll be there the first week of April on the Carnival Magic.  Can't wait!!!  🙂

[tjmaher]

For those NOT snorkeling on this trip, how were the beaches?  Could you swim or was the bottom rocky?  We love to find a beautiful beach place/bar there.  Any recommendations?