IWantToLiveOverTheSea

This will be my first "private island" stop, and while there are certainly many things to do in Harvest Caye, those things don't appeal to me all that much. We were in Belize once before on an Oceania cruise and we stopped at Belize City. I took a ship's tour to the Lamanai ruins and really enjoyed both the boat ride to the ruins and the ruins themselves. But Harvest Caye is in a different part of Belize and has a different emphasis (sun and fun!) But I'm sure I'll find something interesting.

Thanks, I saw this and looked at the zipline stuff, but didn't look for the excursion building. But I see it now! And I guess the boat to Placencia leaves from the Marina behind the excursion building. And I'm laughing because of course the shops are near the entrance! I'll take a look at the NCL excursions. We're on Oceania so excursions may be a bit different. But any (accurate) info is helpful.......

In many ports on a normal day (not embark/disembark day) there is a free shuttle from outside the port to a particular area in the city (tourist area, shopping mall, or whatever). There's an Oceania thread in which people report their experience with these shuttles: The current list has a report that no shuttle was offered in Dublin on a cruise in June 2023. There's no way to know why (embark day?). On our Dublin regular day visit maybe 5 years ago, there WAS a shuttle to Trinity College (Book of Kells, etc.) But I think Dublin has more than one port, or a new port, so can't even guess if a shuttle will be offered. But since it's a turnaround day, I'd guess there wouldn't be. Oceania says that, in general, a shuttle may not be provided if there are adequate taxi/public transport options at the dock. No doubt you'll see taxis that day! As for what goes on inside the ship on turnaround day, I don't remember if there were any requests/requirements/benefits. But I suppose Oceania may close the pool area or something like that as massive cleaning goes on. And I've heard that sometimes an excursion or two are announced later for pssengers staying onboard. But I don't know if that's typical or not. Someone else will likely post more information.

Thank you. I've been trying to look for good information on just what's available on Harvest Caye, but haven't found anything other than a little flyer document quickly describing excursions offered from the island. So it's good to know I can get off and find the shore excursion building ashore. I'd love to find out how much they charge for the excursions if purchased ashore, especially if they offer various zipline excursions or the boat to Placencia, but so far I haven't found that information online.

Thanks. We love off the beaten path places too. I'm leaning towards definitely going over to Placencia, probably on my own on the boat (or is it a ship tender?) You don't remember where you were dropped, do you? I'm trying to get a sense of how walkable the island is and how easy it is to get a taxi to somewhere if where you're let off isn't close to where you want to explore. And I think the village is in the middle of the island.

I know there's a port of call section for port questions, but I thought I'd post here, as many people on here may have gone to Harvest Caye and can answer my questions. We'll be visiting Harvest Caye on Oceania and I was wondering if anyone can give me information about the ziplining there. Do you have to take a ship's excursion, or is it possible to just walk over to the "Flighthouse" and book a trip? And if so, what are the prices like - same as what the ship charges, or different? Oceania is offering a 1 hour excursion, and I figure that's probably just one zip on the shorter ride in the seated position But what if you want to do the Superman ride? Also, if anyone knows how things work in Harvest Caye regarding the "ferry" to Placencia, could you let me know? Do you buy a ticket on your cruise ship, or somewhere in Harvest Caye? And while I doubt I will, if you plan an independent excursion on shore, how do you get ashore to meet the vendor? Is there tender service? Also, if you went to the ruins near the Caye, or did anything else other than enjoying the things on Harvest Caye island itself, did you feel it was worthwhile?

Sorry to go off topic, but I'm curious if anyone has suggestions for Harvest Caye, Belize. It's basically a made up island for cruise line passengers. It has a lot of ways to play, or just enjoy the the sun and water, but I'd prefer to see and photograph natural or cultural things if possible.

I haven't read that it does, but who knows? I guess if it doesn't, you might be able to get a massage on the nearby island of Placencia, which is a fairly developed, upscale, public resort area. Apparently there is a ferry or tender service for cruise passengers on NCL (and presumably Oceania and Regent) ships. One person reported it was $20 roundtrip. Another person mentioned that tickets were sold on her NCL ship, but that there may be a place to get them in the NCL's Caye area. For more info on Placenia and the ferry, you may want to ask someone on the NCL section here.

I would guess that at some times, if there hasn't been enough rain, or too much rain, a company may have to pass up a particular tubing site. You could google Caves Branch Adventure Company.

Some people on our cruise were a little apprehensive about doing anything on their own in Belize City, assuming that's where you're going. It may not be unsafe, but from what little I saw it definitely looked like a poor place, and one with few attractions for tourists. I took an excursion to Lamanai Ruins, and really enjoyed it. But there was some transportation involved....

steeldrums, here's most of page 1 of the pdf version of excursions. Sorry the copy is so bad. The other pages of the lengthy document are just the excursions listed in a more readable/printable format. Emsmom, thanks for the info. I entered my required number of excursions and everything looked good to me, although I didn't go back and run the numbers to make sure, push the button to purchase, or add more excursions above the minimum. So thanks for the explanation and the alert!

If I can ever find Flatbush's info, I'll try to remember to post a link here. But basically, I don't know how soon you can get a pdf copy of excursions for your cruise, or when excursions are posted in your "Your Account" section of the website. But I'll find and attach the first page of my pdf excursion document. It doesn't explain everything but will at least be a start, with descriptions of terminology, how to get 25% off excursions, etc. Your booking invoice tells you what SM credit you have, broken down by traveler. The pdf document will tell you minimum number of excursions you must book to be able to get 25% off (any; your choice, except I think car/driver excursions, if offered, are off the table). For my 14 day cruise, 5 are required, and I have $400 credit from SM. But both these things vary by length of cruise. So in a nutshell, pre-cruise you're making up a package of the minimum number of excursions required, applying SM credit and paying any difference. You need to do this at least 7 days before your sail date. What you've paid for the whole package can be refunded pre-cruise, but it's not specifically stated whether you can switch from one excursion to another after the sail date. But availability may make this difficult, simply due to the number of people reporting very full excursions on both Oceania and the other cruise line we sometimes use. Once you find excursions posted on the website, you can play with that to get an idea of what's possible. But many people say the onboard system for excursions is glitchy for pricing, so it has been recommended that you pick excursions and then call Oceania or have travel agent call to book excursions. I'm finding the pdf and website agree pretty closely (7 or so months pre-cruise?) and availability is quite good. But what I owe and how it's calculated is a little confusing. When I finally pick excursions (maybe in a month or so?), I'll have my travel agent call Oceania to do the actual bookings. The onboard system does count your excursions separately from your travel partner's. But I've heard you can probably get away with using a partner's excursion ticket. And I've heard that you get 25% off any excursions, regardless of how booked, after the required number is chosen (and remains unchanged). But I don't know if the "regardless of how booked" part is accurate. If you have shipboard credit (for example, from O's loyalty program), you can use that on excursions as well. I'll attach something later.

Just ignore this. I didn't mean to quote and comment on this! I'm just going to figure out what excursions I want, and then have the TA book them, using any credit we have!

Good job. I typically (pre SM) I would do a mix of O excursions, third party excursions, or DIY days. But in certain areas of the world, I would probably pick more O excursions more than usual. And while a lot of people dislike ship excursions, there are certain occasions where they offer a lot more than I could find on my own. Up in the Canadian maritimes in early September, we went to a port in which I could find absolutely nothing - no tour providers, taxis, public transportation, or anything to walk to. I was glad there were ship excursions offered. But I'm curious - is there a reason you had the TA call in your excursions? I've seen some comments about the website being a little unpredictable, and I wondered if that was true.

I found the perfect excursion, should I need a 5th: Kayak in the Lagoon Rental, $25 tour price, or $18.75 with Simply More (in this case less)!