Manatee Watch with Coral Breeze Tours

[LolaLemon]

I've booked the Manatee Watch tour w/reef snorkeling with Coral Breeze Tours.

 

Has anyone booked this tour and had difficulty getting back to the ship on time?

 

The way it is looking, we will only have one hour to board the ship after our tour is completed.

 

Is that cutting it too close?

[OZjones12]

You should be fine.... They are right on time and they are really close to the pier where you catch the boat back... Just be ready for a line of people going back... ENJOY! Tell him you heard about him from cruisecritic.com they are familiar with the site!

[GBCanadacruiser]

Don't worry they will get you back in time, as soon as you check in they will verify your tender times. We did this tour in January and had a wonderful day. Coral Breezes uses their partner, Hammerhead Tours for this excursion. You meet them as you exit the ship tenders at the Lazy Lizzard. Mr. Big and his crew took excellent care of us while snorkeling, high ratio of crew to guests, and no matter what your snorkeling level always felt safe in the water. The tour was geared for all levels of snorkelers. More experiences snorkelers did an expanded reef tour, others did a short snorkel and were safely escorted back to the boat by crew. Bannister Island was very relaxing, clean, good drinks, basic food, but kind of a man made Island feeling. The Manatee Watch provided excellent scenery, unfortunatley no manatees! We have also used Coral Breezes for the Snorkelling/Cay Cauker/Stingray Tour and enjoyed this as well.

[LolaLemon]

Don't worry they will get you back in time, as soon as you check in they will verify your tender times. We did this tour in January and had a wonderful day. Coral Breezes uses their partner, Hammerhead Tours for this excursion. You meet them as you exit the ship tenders at the Lazy Lizzard. Mr. Big and his crew took excellent care of us while snorkeling, high ratio of crew to guests, and no matter what your snorkeling level always felt safe in the water. The tour was geared for all levels of snorkelers. More experiences snorkelers did an expanded reef tour, others did a short snorkel and were safely escorted back to the boat by crew. Bannister Island was very relaxing, clean, good drinks, basic food, but kind of a man made Island feeling. The Manatee Watch provided excellent scenery, unfortunatley no manatees! We have also used Coral Breezes for the Snorkelling/Cay Cauker/Stingray Tour and enjoyed this as well.

 

Thanks for all the good info. I am so excited. I hope we have better luck and see some manatees. If not, I will not feel so bad. I am taking my daughter to the Lowry Park zoo in Tampa on 2/7 dor her first bday. I heard they have an add-on tour where manatees can be seen along with other wildlife. Lol

[lvs]

I will be on the Feb. 8th Veendam cruise. My husband doesn't snorkel. Does it pay for him to come along on this trip? It seems expensive just to sit on the beach for most of the day. Any problem just doing this myself?

 

Thanks,

Linda

[MamaParrotHead]

I will be on the Feb. 8th Veendam cruise. My husband doesn't snorkel. Does it pay for him to come along on this trip? It seems expensive just to sit on the beach for most of the day. Any problem just doing this myself?

 

Thanks,

Linda

 

I don't think they charge extra for the people just "along for the ride" on the snorkeling portion. I had emailed and asked about that for my smaller kids who have never snorkeled, and Mark at Coral Breezes said that we could just pay the non-snorkeler price and one of the adults could swim with the kids (away from the snorkelers, I'm assuming) while everyone else did their snorkeling. Just email and ask.

[jubilee1]

I've booked the Manatee Watch tour w/reef snorkeling with Coral Breeze Tours.

 

Has anyone booked this tour and had difficulty getting back to the ship on time?

 

The way it is looking, we will only have one hour to board the ship after our tour is completed.

 

Is that cutting it too close?

We used Coral Breeze last year in Belize. They will take care of you and have you back on time. We had time to enjoy several drinks at the Wet Lizard and got in the long line to tender back to the boat! The men stood in line while we did some last minute shopping! We'll be back in Belize in March. Can't wait!

[Perfect Stranger]

How long are you in the small boat looking for manatees? I get nervous when I know that there's nowhere to go to the bathroom. :o

[LolaLemon]

How long are you in the small boat looking for manatees? I get nervous when I know that there's nowhere to go to the bathroom. :o

 

The manatee watch portion is about an hour long.

 

I just emailed the tour operator. He said there is a small, but cramped head on the boat. It is functional, so if you really need to go, it is there. However, it is easier to use the facilities on Bannister Island or in the Tourism Village.

 

:)

[LolaLemon]

I will be on the Feb. 8th Veendam cruise. My husband doesn't snorkel. Does it pay for him to come along on this trip? It seems expensive just to sit on the beach for most of the day. Any problem just doing this myself?

 

Thanks,

Linda

 

Hi Linda!

You'll be on the same ship as me! We have a roll call thread that you should visit. Also, we are having a Meet & Greet on 2/10 at 11 a.m. in the Crow's Nest. You can meet others from CC.

 

About the snorkeling part, I know they charge $50 for non snorkelers and $60 for snorkelers. My parents, daughter and friend are all non-snorkelers. I'm told there is food, drinking and shopping on Bannister Island if your husband wants to do more than swim in the ocean while waiting for you to get back from snorkeling.

 

For me, it is a good option because I am able to do a tour with my family and still get time in to do snorkeleing with my husband - a favorite for us!

Laura

[lvs]

Hi Laura,

 

Thanks for the information on the meet and greet. We'll be there! How do I get on to the roll call thread? Never done that.

 

Just did another post because the snorkeling options are confusing - so many - and I am most likely going to do this myself. My husband really would get bored being at the beach all day. He would prefer to walk around and take pictures. If the snorkel excursion gives me enough free time afterwards I would arrange to meet him to do something on land.

 

Linda

[LolaLemon]

Hi Laura,

 

Thanks for the information on the meet and greet. We'll be there! How do I get on to the roll call thread? Never done that.

 

Just did another post because the snorkeling options are confusing - so many - and I am most likely going to do this myself. My husband really would get bored being at the beach all day. He would prefer to walk around and take pictures. If the snorkel excursion gives me enough free time afterwards I would arrange to meet him to do something on land.

 

Linda

You just go to the Roll Calls - Members Only Forum and look for the Veendam Roll Calls.

 

Here's the path to our specific roll call:

 

Cruise Critic Message Boards > ROLL CALLS - Members Only > Holland America Roll Calls > Veendam Roll Calls Anyone going on the Veendam February 8 - 15 2009?

[tntheresa]

I have a quesion about the beaches in Belize in general. I am traveling with a 5 year old alone so all I really want to do is get off the boat and go to a beach. Doesn't necessarily need to be the Bannister Beach Break. My daughter may only want to stay for an hour so I was wondering to save $100 can we just go to a public beach - maybe take a taxi from the pier. We wont be drinking obviously so going to Bannister may not be the best fit for us.

 

Thanks.