Belize Cave Tubing

[mrmapt]

Good Morning:

 

I see that Carnival does not offer cave tubing. Is there a reason why that anyone knows of? I was going to book by private company, does anyone have any pros or cons from doing this in the past?

 

Thanks

[birdy]

My DH and I did a private tour in 2004. It was fantastic. Check out the ports of call board and they have great recommendations.

[illiniwahoo]

Someone did die on a cruise-sponsored cave tubing a year or two ago, so maybe that's why it's not offered.. I went anyways last January. The Belize government tightened up regulations in response to the incident - max 6 (or 8 I can't remember) people per every guide, govt decides if the river is safe enough to go, guides need to pass a test, ect. It was fun. We used a private company, but only got back to the pier abt. 10 minutes before the last tender. That worried me a little, but we made it!

[irb33785]

We did it in October with Major Tom. His safety standards were a bit higher (IMHO) than some of the others we saw. Great guides, including Major Tom. We had a blast and I would do it again. We made the next to the last tender back to the ship so don't do it if you want to shop.

[juke1998]

We went on an awesome cave tubing trip last year with a group of 6. I believe the website was cave-tubing dot com.

[LHP]

Hubby and oldest son tubed with Yhoney May 2008 (cave-tubing.com) and had a great time.

 

They left the pier at 9:15AM and returned at 2:30pm....the ship sailed at 4pm.

 

Please be advised though that now that the cruise lines are no longer offering these excursions....the independents are dealing with more bookings.

 

They are in an odd situation...do they invest in more equipment to handle the increase in customers....only to have that number drop IF the cruise lines start offering these tours again....OR do they just do the best they can with the equipment they have knowing that one day soon...the cruise lines will start this tour up again???

 

As far as missing the ship, yes it can happen with any tour...but in the years that we have been going to Belize...I have never read of it happening with Yhoney. Yes, there are close calls....but so far no misses.....

 

Just to be on the safe side, I had hubby wear a water tight thingy around his neck with a credit card, copies of their passports and some cash ( in addition to the cash to pay for the tour)...so they could get to the next port.

 

For years (before Hurricane Dean) Costa Maya was the next port and it was only a 6 hour bus ride to the next port. Now that this isn't the case....getting to the next port is a little more difficult.

[steveaaaaa]

Good Morning:

 

I see that Carnival does not offer cave tubing. Is there a reason why that anyone knows of? I was going to book by private company, does anyone have any pros or cons from doing this in the past?

 

Thanks

 

 

Great tour, just watch out for snakes while in the caves.Stay away from the walls.

Steve

[mrmapt]

Thanks everyone, great information!

[GLENANDT]

Both times DH and I went to Belize, we did the cave tubing with Major and Minor Tom. Great family and very cautious. Here's there website:

cave-tubing dot net

 

Have a great cruise!!

[rrjoy11]

I agree Major Tom was great. We had a very fun and safe cave tubing trip in Belize.:)

[Sky616]

Did this w/ Major Tom two years ago. Very enjoyable day, and very good company with safety first. Went with Tom's son and he was great. We would definitely recommend him.

[Mack2]

We just got off the Carnival Legend... did cavetubing with Vitalino through cavetubing dot bz.

 

Was a good trip... I did as about the cavetubing death, and the guides did point their fingers at the area where there was a drowning... they also told us what had happened...

 

 

According to our guides, the accident occurred before the gov't imposed a limit to the amount of cavetubers per guide.

The accident occurred when a group of 25 tubers lead by one guide got stuck in a corner of the cave near an exit. The current was high, and a 2nd group of 25 tubers got stuck in the corner as well. The person who died fell out of her tube, and drowned underneath the group of people.

 

and as illiniwahoo said, there are now gov't regulations regarding the size of the tour groups and the level of the water (high waters = faster current)

----------------------------

 

The cavetubing is pretty cool. I'd do it again.

There's a hike from the main staging area to the grotto where you enter the caves... it's about a 30min hike. The water was around 75 degrees. You do get to wear headlamps and a life preserver. The rainforest is pretty amazing... it's still pristine, and mostly untouched... the grotto is amazing.