cavetubing. bz

[Dunner]

You said that it was VERY dark in the caves even with the lights-----do you feel closed in? Can you see any light at either end? Just recently I have felt a little uncomfortable in small spaces---elevator if I think it has stopped and it won't open.

[TwoSue]

I disagree about the darkness. These caves are HUGE and the openings are wide.... you have a hundred people in there with headlights on. It's not that dark.

[tarheelmjfan]

Island2Girl & TarheelMJfan,

 

I'm back from cave tubing with Charlie Chan (charliescavetubing.com).

 

It was everything I'd hoped it would be!! :D Private tour with him is the WAY to Go! We were literally the 1st people to the cave tubing site!!!!! We got to see (and hear!) howler monkeys that were for sure gone by the time the crowds got there. He is an amazing jungle ecology guide!! We had the whole path to ourselves. We asked for a longer jungle hike to do more caves and boy was it worth it!!! We were the only people floating the top of the river...we went into this AWESOME bat filled cave that ALL the other tours missed.

 

I've got to work now but I'll try to post more later. (shoes, we passed .com and .bz sites on our way there & back, tendering, etc.)

 

 

Sorry to go OT again, but I thought I'd post a follow-up for those considering a private tour with Charlie. My DH contacted them about a private tour for the 3 of us, & they replied with a quote. He emailed back asking to book it. Next, we get an email offering us a great deal, which is the regular/public tour they always offer. :rolleyes: He once again emailed thanking them for the offer, but we really want the private tour. It's been a couple weeks & we haven't heard back from them. I guess they had 2nd thoughts on booking the private tour for $30 pp more than the public tour. :confused: It would have been nice to hear one way or the other. I'm going to have him contact them once more to see, if they'll get back to us. If we get a reply, I'll post the update.

[TBOTZON]

Sorry to go OT again, but I thought I'd post a follow-up for those considering a private tour with Charlie. My DH contacted them about a private tour for the 3 of us, & they replied with a quote. He emailed back asking to book it. Next, we get an email offering us a great deal, which is the regular/public tour they always offer. :rolleyes: He once again emailed thanking them for the offer, but we really want the private tour. It's been a couple weeks & we haven't heard back from them. I guess they had 2nd thoughts on booking the private tour for $30 pp more than the public tour. :confused: It would have been nice to hear one way or the other. I'm going to have him contact them once more to see, if they'll get back to us. If we get a reply, I'll post the update.

 

We just booked for May 12 and asked for the longer hike and extra caves. Didn't ask for a deal though. Wish I would have thought of it ;)

[tarheelmjfan]

We just booked for May 12 and asked for the longer hike and extra caves. Didn't ask for a deal though. Wish I would have thought of it ;)

 

Sorry, my post may not have been clear. We didn't ask for a deal. We asked for a private tour, which would be more than the public tour. After quoting us a price for the private tour, they emailed with a special offer for us to consider instead. The "special" offer was for the public tour at their usual price. It wasn't a special offer at all. They just tried to sell it that way. I may have bought it, if I wasn't a CC reader & knew what the regular price is. When we politely declined their special offer, they didn't get back to us.

[Dallen*]

We just booked for May 12 and asked for the longer hike and extra caves. Didn't ask for a deal though. Wish I would have thought of it ;)

 

TBOTZON, would you mind posting a mini review back here after your cruise? I'm considering Charlies as well (in December), but there's not much info out there. I've check TA as well as here. I'm looking for info on what type of equipment they use, value, personable staff, etc. I'd be interested in the longer hike and extra caves too. Would love to know how it works out for you. :) Thanks and have a great trip!!

 

tarheelmjfan, ditto for you too. I hope the 'private' tour works out for you. Please post how it turned out.

[tkpro]

Hello...are you able to bring a camara on this tour?

[mitsugirly]

Yes you can bring cameras.

[tarheelmjfan]

Sorry to go OT again, but I thought I'd post a follow-up for those considering a private tour with Charlie. My DH contacted them about a private tour for the 3 of us, & they replied with a quote. He emailed back asking to book it. Next, we get an email offering us a great deal, which is the regular/public tour they always offer. :rolleyes: He once again emailed thanking them for the offer, but we really want the private tour. It's been a couple weeks & we haven't heard back from them. I guess they had 2nd thoughts on booking the private tour for $30 pp more than the public tour. :confused: It would have been nice to hear one way or the other. I'm going to have him contact them once more to see, if they'll get back to us. If we get a reply, I'll post the update.

 

Another update :o......

My DH contacted Charlie's Cave Tubing again over the weekend. This time they returned the email & said we're booked for our private excursion. The most recent price quote was $5 per person more than they quoted a few weeks ago for a total of $85 per person. (They originally quoted $80.) I don't know, if they've gone up from $70 to $85 in the past few weeks, or if we were quoted more than DAP2, because there is only 3 of us. We didn't argue the price. We're just glad to have a private tour. :)

[TBOTZON]

TBOTZON, would you mind posting a mini review back here after your cruise? I'm considering Charlies as well (in December), but there's not much info out there. I've check TA as well as here. I'm looking for info on what type of equipment they use, value, personable staff, etc. I'd be interested in the longer hike and extra caves too. Would love to know how it works out for you. :) Thanks and have a great trip!!

 

tarheelmjfan, ditto for you too. I hope the 'private' tour works out for you. Please post how it turned out.

 

It worked out great! Our ship took forever to get us off-over an hour! I was worried that they had given up on us coming (they don't require a deposit or anything) but he was there waiting!

 

We had Roberto take us on the excursion and he introduced us to Charlie on the way out. It was just my family the 3 of us so we had the tour all to ourselves. Roberto was incredible and there was not a question he could not answer about the history, plants, animals and caves. We had brought tennis shoes but when we saw they would get totally saturated walking through the river (water is above the knees) we decided to rent water socks at the entrance for $3 each. Roberto at our request took us the longer way so we could go through an extra cave and see more of the forest. The cruise ships won't do that for you.

 

The water was low because of the time of year so it was like a lazy river. Roberto literally swam us through the caves and told us all about them afterwards he took us to the store, offered to take us into a wildlife reserve place and then to lunch at the biz. place everyone goes to. Highly recommend!

[mitsugirly]

Another update :o......

My DH contacted Charlie's Cave Tubing again over the weekend. This time they returned the email & said we're booked for our private excursion. The most recent price quote was $5 per person more than they quoted a few weeks ago for a total of $85 per person. (They originally quoted $80.) I don't know, if they've gone up from $70 to $85 in the past few weeks, or if we were quoted more than DAP2, because there is only 3 of us. We didn't argue the price. We're just glad to have a private tour. :)

 

I'm sorry, but I'm wondering why you would even still be dealing with these people if you are quoted one price, then they change it on you. It's hard to get them to email you back for weeks, then email you with a bogus "deal" which is actually the real price. :eek: :confused: Why are you continuing to go with them? There are SO MANY reviews on here with other companies that people are highly satisfied with. Just wondering...

 

IMO, I'm not dealing with anyone that is acting a) shady about prices or b) doesn't bother to contact me within a couple of days. If they want my business, they need to earn it. There are a whole lot of other companies that would happy to take my money. :D

[tarheelmjfan]

I'm sorry, but I'm wondering why you would even still be dealing with these people if you are quoted one price, then they change it on you. It's hard to get them to email you back for weeks, then email you with a bogus "deal" which is actually the real price. :eek: :confused: Why are you continuing to go with them? There are SO MANY reviews on here with other companies that people are highly satisfied with. Just wondering...

 

IMO, I'm not dealing with anyone that is acting a) shady about prices or b) doesn't bother to contact me within a couple of days. If they want my business, they need to earn it. There are a whole lot of other companies that would happy to take my money. :D

 

We chose this company, because it was the only one I've read about that would do a private tour for the 3 of us. I have health restrictions & wouldn't want them to affect others in a group, in a worse case scenario. I'll need to go at a slower pace in easier terrain. (If I were healthy, we'd book the group tour.) Naturally, I just saw the review above your post & it appears they had a tour to themselves for the regular price. I'm afraid to take that chance though. I just don't think it would be right for me to potentially negatively affect anyone's, other than my immediate family's, tour.

 

ETA: Under normal circumstances, I would have moved on long ago.

[TBOTZON]

We chose this company, because it was the only one I've read about that would do a private tour for the 3 of us. I have health restrictions & wouldn't want them to affect others in a group, in a worse case scenario. I'll need to go at a slower pace in easier terrain. (If I were healthy, we'd book the group tour.) Naturally, I just saw the review above your post & it appears they had a tour to themselves for the regular price. I'm afraid to take that chance though. I just don't think it would be right for me to potentially negatively affect anyone's, other than my immediate family's, tour.

 

ETA: Under normal circumstances, I would have moved on long ago.

 

I don't think you need to worry. Charlie has been a tour guide for years and very well known with the other tour people. He just started his own company not long ago and tries very hard to please his customers. He may have not got back to you immediately because they are so busy.

[mitsugirly]

We chose this company, because it was the only one I've read about that would do a private tour for the 3 of us. I have health restrictions & wouldn't want them to affect others in a group, in a worse case scenario. I'll need to go at a slower pace in easier terrain. (If I were healthy, we'd book the group tour.) Naturally, I just saw the review above your post & it appears they had a tour to themselves for the regular price. I'm afraid to take that chance though. I just don't think it would be right for me to potentially negatively affect anyone's, other than my immediate family's, tour.

 

ETA: Under normal circumstances, I would have moved on long ago.

 

That makes sense. I hope things work out for you. I hope you have a wonderful trip and stay safe. :)

[Dallen*]

It worked out great! Our ship took forever to get us off-over an hour! I was worried that they had given up on us coming (they don't require a deposit or anything) but he was there waiting!

 

We had Roberto take us on the excursion and he introduced us to Charlie on the way out. It was just my family the 3 of us so we had the tour all to ourselves. Roberto was incredible and there was not a question he could not answer about the history, plants, animals and caves. We had brought tennis shoes but when we saw they would get totally saturated walking through the river (water is above the knees) we decided to rent water socks at the entrance for $3 each. Roberto at our request took us the longer way so we could go through an extra cave and see more of the forest. The cruise ships won't do that for you.

 

The water was low because of the time of year so it was like a lazy river. Roberto literally swam us through the caves and told us all about them afterwards he took us to the store, offered to take us into a wildlife reserve place and then to lunch at the biz. place everyone goes to. Highly recommend!

 

THANK YOU for coming back with your review! If you don't mind ... I have a few questions:

 

What kind/color of tubes do they provide?

What kind of life vests do they provide?

How many caves did you go through?

Do you have any pics you can post? I'd even be happy with thumbnail size. :)

[tarheelmjfan]

That makes sense. I hope things work out for you. I hope you have a wonderful trip and stay safe. :)

 

Thanks, you too. :)

[Harriet369]

Just returned from a SilverSea cruise that stopped in Belize. We skipped the cave tubing, but our excursion to Maya ruins at Altun Ha, with guide Roberto Botes from Vitalino Reyes excursions was a highlight. The destination was very interesting and Roberto was steeped in Maya culture and history. He pointed out many interesting places along the way and stopped to show us iguanas and turtles. He also took us to a lunch stop for some authentic rice and beans. Just delightful. You can find them at Cavetubing.bz .

[The_Edge]

we used .bz a couple weeks ago for cave tubing. Great family activity, very unique trip. I enjoyed it and the tour guides were great. Also all the free rum punch at the end didn't hurt!

I recommend them.

[Dabs01]

We used cavetubing.BZ from our Princess cruise in early January. We got the 1st tender off the ship as instructed and followed their instructions to find the guide. Vitalino Jr. was our driver, he gave us a lot of information on Belize on the hour drive to the caves. Our group was 12, 8 that did just the tubing, 4 that did the zipline and tubing. The walk through the jungle (do not ignore the note about bug spray if you are a mosquito magnet like my husband!) was not strenuous but you must be able to carry an inner tube and walk for 30-45 minutes. The guide stopped at various points along the way and showed us glue trees, had us taste termites, showed us poisonous trees and then the remedy tree that was next to it. Groups were racing past us so I'm guessing that their guides weren't showing them much of anything.

 

We passed by a point where he said that the cruise ship tours started so their tour was shorter as everyone gets back out at the same place. Once we got to the launching spot, we were eased into our tubes (no jumping or falling back into them) and hooked together in two lines of four. My husband's feet were under my armpits and I held onto the tube handle of the woman next to me. The current of the river this time of year when it's drier is very gentle and slow, this is not white water rafting, at least not in this season, it's a leisurely float down the river through some caves. The guide was with us the whole time guiding the rafts and we didn't break apart until the very end. The caves themselves are interesting to see and at one point everyone turned out their headlamps and we were in complete darkness.

 

After we finished up we changed clothes and then went for lunch at a roadside place which I assume is part of their business, not a restaurant. They served us chicken, beans and rice, cole slaw and some fabulous rum punch, all very yummy. And then we headed back to port with plenty of time before the last ship tender.

 

If you are going cave tubing, I would highly recommend these folks, it's clear that it's a family run business, that they care about their customers safety and that they are enjoying the tour and Belize.

 

My only complaint was that the tubes used were a little hard on my neck, it might have been the position I was sitting in but if you have neck issues, you might check out VIV which has the tubes with the head rests.

[stunned]

Dabs01 - was the lunch and rumpunch included in the price?

[The_Edge]

Dabs01 - was the lunch and rumpunch included in the price?

 

 

yes, lunch and rum punch was included in the price.

[S Dakota]

I would just like to echo Dabs01 praise for Cavetubing.bz. We just used them about a week ago and they were great. Jose was our excellent driver and guide. We only had 5 in our group, my family of 3 and 1 other couple. When we reached the tubing site another guide joined us so we had very personal service. We paid $50 each which included the excellent lunch. They encouraged us to eat and drink as much as we wanted and when we asked for a little more food, we were each brought another full plate of everything, as well as a large container of rum punch. After the drive to the site, the hike in the jungle, and the tubing, you will be hungry and the lunch was very welcome. Our excursion with cavetubing.bz was excellent and I strongly recommend them.

[rhcpchika1]

Tubing with BZ in april! Can't wait !!:)