Book tubing thru cruise lines or not?

[mwm]

I will be sailing the Carnival Miracle late May to Belize. The cruise line wants $85 for their tubing experinece but I've seen rates of $45 on some web pages. Can someone help me out with the pros and cons to get a great excursion economically?

[PaladinTodd]

Don't do the cruise line. You'll be herded onto a tour bus, herded to the river entrance, take a crowded and noisy float through the caves, and then be herded back.

 

We went with NCQ (Nacho and Cynthia). The group was 6 of us. They drove us through town pointing out sites and telling us some history. At Jaguar Paw, Cynthia walked us through the jungle to the river again pointing out things (got to eat some termites). We went to the far river entrance so we did two caves instead of the 1 that many of the tour groups did. We also waited for the group there to leave before we started so that we had a quieter trip. Then a good lunch at the resort's restaurant (no tour group there) followed by a tour of the grounds (butterfly pavilion). Then the drive back to town with stops to point out iguanas sleeping in trees, sampling of the local wine, and Belize jokes.

 

Ours was the zipline + cave tubing trip + lunch. $85 if I remember right. Well worth it.

[figgy0223]

I recommend X-Stream Cave Tubing. You'll have to Google XStream Belize Cave Tubing or something similar. It was $60 each and we paid $5 extra for lunch. We did one extra cave that the cruise ship excursion didn't do and there were only 6 in our group. Our guide was very informative and fun - I would do the same excursion with the same company if I go back to Belize. When I was there, Royal Caribbean was charging $98 for the same trip, so booking independently is definetly worth it!

[D4]

We were in Belize 3 years ago and it was the only time we've ever done something different than our kids (18 & 15 at the time). We wanted the safety of knowing the ship wouldn't leave without any of us, so DH and I went to the ruins and the kids went cave-tubing, all on ship tours.

 

We're going again this summer and doing the same thing. Although I believe the smaller tours are a better quality experience, we want the security of the ship tours especially since it's a tender port.

[rwilymz]

Although I believe the smaller tours are a better quality experience, we want the security of the ship tours especially since it's a tender port.

 

I think you'll find, D, that the private tours will want favorable reviews and will bend over backwards to make sure you make your tender.

[JXOPF]

I took 19 of my group on a private combo tour (cave tubing and zip lining) with cave-tubing.com and would do it again in a heartbeat. You can email Yhony, the owner at:

yhony7547@yahoo.com

 

I was very paranoid about being in charge of so many people, getting a good tour, not missing the boat, etc. Just ask Yhony how many times I emailed him with a zillion questions.:p I even asked how many of their customers have missed the boat over the years (zero). The cost was about half of what the ship charges.

 

Keep in mind on the private tours: YOU set the agenda. It's your tour, so you customize it. You have that flexibility with a private tour! I asked for our group to be returned to the pier 1 hour before the last scheduled tender. Just wanted plenty of leeway. Yhony was waiting at the pier as planned, right on time when we arrived(actually waiting on us!) and we were returned after the tour right at the time I requested.

 

These guys work very hard and as the above poster mentioned, depend on positive reviews for future business. They earn it! There's a plethora of info on these private tours here on the Belize board if you want more info.

If you stop for lunch at Cheers, look for my husband's b'day tee shirt that should be displayed from the rafters!:p

[clackey]

If you are in port 7 or 8 hours, book with a local. All of the companies mentioned will give you a great trip. We used Wet & Wild and were completely satisfied, but thousands of other cruisers can say the same for the other companies. It is like asking "which girl is prettiest?" It depends on who is looking. Just do your research on these boards and don't worry. If these companies get bad reviews here, they don't eat. It is as simple as that.

[rontron]

Hi. We just returned from our cruise and did the cavetubing with Yhony from cavetubing.com . He was wonderful. Each family had their own guide. So it was one guide for every four people.On the ship tours it was one guide for about thirty people. Very unsafe especially with kids. Yhony was incredibly concerned with everyone's safety and he will absoulutely make sure you get back to the ship on time. After seeing the difference i would only do this through a private operator such as Yhony. Even if the cost were the same I would still go private but the difference $45 per peson plus five dollars if you want lunch vs $99 on the ship and the ship tour only did one cave while Yhony does two- its a no brainer!!

 

Have a great cruise!!

[KtBarker]

We were on the Miracle, and booked a private tour with TG. We got in line for our tender after those on pre-booked excursions got off. We still managed to beat the bus loads of ship-booked cave tubers the park to start the tubing. We went through 2 caves. In the first cave Tom pulled us over to the side, we got out and walked around the inside of the caves. While we were doing this the first group of ship-booked tubers went by us screaming and making noise. Tom told us how bad it is and how the screaming can make the stalegmites (or tites... I can't remember) fall off the roof of the cave and hit someone. I loved how organized our group of 6 was, and how knowledgeable our guide and his 17 year old son (Tom Jr)were (and the sugar cane he pulled from the trail for us to eat while we were on the river). To see how much pride for his country Tom Jr had, was awesome.

 

Like someone else said we asked Tom about making it back to the ship on time, and he said he has never had anyone that missed their ship.

 

You can have a good or bad experience with the ship sponsered tour or through a private guide depending on the day, so why not save yourself $30 and go with a private guide! ;)

[hener55]

We were on the carnival miracle. Booked cave tubing through ACtion Belize for 59...Carnival was 89. trip was with 8 people, not 50. Driver and guide were good. Cave tubing was fun. Walk through the rainforest was good, our guide showed and explained lots of things on our walk.

 

Carnival would not let anyone with private excursion tickets off the boat till all the cruise line tours were gone. You had to show your carnival excursion tix and then get a number sticker to get off the boat. we "borrowed someone else's tix to get a sticker...got off on the first tender. We were back to the pier with 2 hours to spare.

[show]

We were on the Miracle, and booked a private tour with TG. We got in line for our tender after those on pre-booked excursions got off. We still managed to beat the bus loads of ship-booked cave tubers the park to start the tubing. We went through 2 caves. In the first cave Tom pulled us over to the side, we got out and walked around the inside of the caves. While we were doing this the first group of ship-booked tubers went by us screaming and making noise. Tom told us how bad it is and how the screaming can make the stalegmites (or tites... I can't remember) fall off the roof of the cave and hit someone. I loved how organized our group of 6 was, and how knowledgeable our guide and his 17 year old son (Tom Jr)were (and the sugar cane he pulled from the trail for us to eat while we were on the river). To see how much pride for his country Tom Jr had, was awesome.

 

Like someone else said we asked Tom about making it back to the ship on time, and he said he has never had anyone that missed their ship.

 

You can have a good or bad experience with the ship sponsered tour or through a private guide depending on the day, so why not save yourself $30 and go with a private guide! ;)

 

That must be the guys at b e l i z e s h o r e x . c o m - same company that we found while in Belize, along with two others that went highly recommended, as we researched on private companies there, which handle specialized small groups. If you check out my earlier thread, you'll see the others.

[airlink diva]

I just returned from the Miracle (4/30-5/7) sailing. I took my trip with cave-tubing.com. They were great!! We were divided into small groups of six and linked together. Each group had a guide. We also did two caves.

The cruise ship people were treated like a herd of cattle. One of their buses broke down and the people on that bus had to walk to the park entrance (this is in addition to the walk to the caves). No assistance was given to anyone on getting into their tubes and heading into the caves. The cruiseline had people in various parts of the cave to push people from the walls or to tell them go to the right. Our group was imformed of the low areas and when to rise our tush :D !! The cruise people were all over the place in the cave with mass confusion.

I paid $45 and had a guide that I shared with only 5 other people. I was also given a choice of doing two caves and lunch (pending time) and given a history and a mini tour of the city. The cruiseship tour was $98 with some having to walk additionally due to broken bus, no very little assistance, one cave and no lunch.

Now don't get me wrong, I also book tours with the cruiseships (I did so in an earlier port and had a great time) But I was amazed on how the people were treated on the cruise tour in Belize.

These guys also know what time the ship is sailing and keep this in mind. They don't want anyone to miss the boat and then tell others about this.

[Middleager]

There are always people who will pay a lot more to the cruise line to have the comfort they'll be back in time for the ship. Some people don't know much about where they are going, and only book thru cruise line.

 

There are some people who will do some research on where they are going, what tours are available by others, and save money by booking independently.

 

In another port, there is an operator that charges $75 for their tour. Now Carnival is signing them up to be their contractor, and soon the new price will be about $149, for exactly the same thing. On non-cruiseship days, they'll still charge $75.

[finoky]

I agree with Airlink Diva. We also used www.cave-tubing.com and highly recommend them. In fact we were on the same tour as you but probably had a different guide. Tim was on the bus with us and Richard was our guide. We stopped at Cheers too and loved the lunch.

[Mark_R]

I will be sailing the Carnival Miracle late May to Belize. The cruise line wants $85 for their tubing experinece but I've seen rates of $45 on some web pages. Can someone help me out with the pros and cons to get a great excursion economically?

 

Having now experienced a non-cruise excursion. I can now...not only recommend a private tour but would encourage one. My family sailed on Enchantment of the Seas 5/8 - 5/13 and booked a cave-tubing tour through http://www.cave-tubing.com/ and the entire experience was exceptional. Our guides Charlie and Tigre were waiting at the entrance to Terminal 1 with a huge sign board with my name on it and we left immediately in a nice van with great air. Charlie is very educated in all facets of Belize from Geology, Ecology, and general life in Belize. He is a real asset as a tour guide and gave a very complete tour on our way to the caves as well as answering everyone's questions. Tigre was our driver and drove very safely and still managed to get us to and from the Caves Branch well in front of most of the cruise mobs. Our walk to where we would put our tubes in was very informative and both Tigre and Charlie were very knowledgable and the small group (13) made for a very personal experience. We also put in alot farther upriver than the cruise mobs. They also linked our tubes together one group of 6 and one of 7 and then proceeded to pull and paddle and guide us through the cave system. Hint: they know where all the deep water is (when it's dry out this is important). The cruise mobs were all alone and stranded like wrecked cars as we snaked our way on through. Both our guides worked hard and were very attentive. Then we went and had a wonderful meal at a place called Cheers. We paid at the end of the tour 45 dollars per person (more than half that of the cruise tour). They treat you like family and I would DEFINATELY use this company again.

[cdew]

cave-tubing.com the only way to go just came back from a cruise on carnival. These guys are awesome no other way to put it.I highly recommend them.

[bobandterri]

We cruised on Carnival Valor the week of April 30. After reading many Cruise Critic reviews, we booked with Jhony. Our son cruised on RCCL Explorer the week before and chose the same. It was a fantastic choice & my son said he was the highlight of the cruise. Jhony & crew met us at the terminal. A bus of 30 people took about 45 minutes to the rainforest. He had us laughing the whole way. Unlike the cruise line, we went through 2 caves in chains of 6 people. We stopped at a small restaurant, Cheers for chicken ($5 per person) and the food was good. We paid on the return to the port. You would not be disappointed.

[airlink diva]

I agree with Airlink Diva. We also used www.cave-tubing.com and highly recommend them. In fact we were on the same tour as you but probably had a different guide. Tim was on the bus with us and Richard was our guide. We stopped at Cheers too and loved the lunch.

I was on the large school bus. I noticed that there was a white 16 pax van that arrived at the park around the same time. Where you on that bus? Also, was your group the first one in the water??

[knobcreek]

My Husband & I Just Returned Frm Rc Enchantment Of Seas A Week Ago--used Cave Tubing.com...had A Great Time...charlie & Tigre Were Very Informative About The Area..took Us Thru Add Caves & We Stopped For A Great Local Meal...and The Cost Was Half The Amt Ship Chgd....highly Reccomend This Grp..we Felt They Took Our Safety Very Seriously--saw Large Grps Frm Ship Very Scattered An Even Saw One Lady Caught In An Area She Couldn't Get Out Of And Her Entire Grp Had Gone Ahead..our Guides Kept Us Together & Always Made Sure We Enjoyed The Adventure...would Do It Again...

[Cruisin'Trooper]

Just got back this morning from 7 days on the Carnival Miracle. Booked our cave tubing through cave-tubing.com with Yhony - the only way to go!

 

When you get off the tender, the locals swarm you - this is a POOR country and they are all over you. As soon as I mentioned "I am looking for Yhony", they back off quickly! Yhony meets you at the meeting spot and will have your name on a sign to show you that you got the right guy.

 

We did more for less money than booking through the cruise lines. In fact, we went through 2 caves vs. the cruise line's one and we were guided the entire way. Passed a lot of cruise ship folks (including some dining friends) who were all alone in the caves w/o cruise line's guides.

 

Afterwards, they take you to lunch at a local restaurant - great place!

 

You truely get the full Belize experience. The guides are funny, helpful, and cool to deal with. We paid $45.00 (lunch was additional $5.00) and had a blast. Friends went through Carnival and paid almost twice the price and did not have as much fun or see as much of the country as we did.

 

You pay at the end of the day in cash and they take you right back to the port in plenty of time before the last tender. The cruise lines will tell you not to book with anyone but them and will try to scare you into thinking you will miss the ship or that you can't get off the ship early when all of "their" excursions go. Nonsense - save you $$ and go with these guys.

[Cruisin'Trooper]

tttt

[LHARTWICK]

What is the website for the company you used? We will be on Miracle on 9/17. Thanks!