Harvest Caye was a totally wasted day!

[kbnovak]

We stopped at Harvest Caye as a port stop on a cruise on the NCL Sun.
The gov't of Belize is in charge of all parts of this operation, and it was a horrible experience.
There were two ships in port that day, the NCL Getaway with its 3,500+ guests, and us, with 2,000+ guests.  There is room for only one ship at the pier, so we had to tender.
The tendering process is an absolute joke!  It took us more than two hours of waiting in line to get on a tender to get to the island, and we had to wait another hour for the tender ride back (it was a 10-minute boat ride).
The island clearly is incapable of handling crowds.  We had no chance to get anything to eat because there are only two places to eat, and they are both sit-down establishments.  Each one had waits of more than an hour.
The only highlight of the stop was the pool bar, where the staff is very efficient in serving the customers.  We also got to see an iguana swim across the pool, so at least we had that going for us.

[brookeq]

Wow that really stinks.   

[aknguyen]

That isn't the fun day we all have in mind.

[MamaLady76]

I hope that isn't a typical occurrence! 

[runner15km]

On 4/10/2019 at 2:43 PM, MamaLady76 said:

I hope that isn't a typical occurrence! 

We were there 2x's and had a wonderful time. We walk beyond the pool area and find a spot under the palm trees in a quieter location. 

[Loucat]

Sounds like NCL should stick to one ship at a time if there is only one docking area. I would also not like the wait to tender and then lack of adequate space for that many pax to eat.

I would rather stay on the ship.

Given the amount of time in planning this new venture, did NCL give any thought to the number of their ships that use Harvest Caye over Belize City port and the likelyhood of overcrowding? I do remember reading the concerns over environmental concerns as this was a pristine area. I wonder if that was a factor in only docking one ship at a time.

If they alternated ships between Belize City and Harvest Caye, that might help. I have had no interest in Harvest Caye having read posts from cc members who sailed there. Would jump on a sailing that included Belize City but that is my opinion having been there 10+ times.

[bstel]

On 4/6/2019 at 4:47 PM, kbnovak said:

The gov't of Belize is in charge of all parts of this operation, and it was a horrible experience.
 

Harvest Caye is owned and run by NCL, so i dont think the gov't has anything to do with it.  Going to Belize City, the gov't is in charge of boat tenders.

 

This is what you get now as the cruise lines are taking all the authenticity out of the stops by creating their own "ports"

 

Costa Maya = Mahahual

Mohangany Bay = Roatan

Harvest Caye = Belize

All the Bahama's private islands

etc

 

All these stops are just crappy tourist destinations run by the Cruise Ships with all the profits going to them, not the locals (other than the Government's take).  Nothing authentic about any of them.  And it only appears to be getting worse.  Our local operator in Grand Cayman said the Gov't is in negotiations with Carnival for them to build a pier.

Edited June 7, 2019 by bstel
typos