«Captain your own boat» excursion

[La Cambuse]

This is an excursion where we have the opportunity to drive our own 40 HP rib into the mangrove and part of the rainforest on a small river. Chances are to encounter crocodiles, spider monkeys, manatees and a variety of wild birds.

Visit their website for more informations.

 

http://www.coralbreezetours.com/current_category.15/Product.152/tours_add.html?t_product=152

 

We are a couple interested in this excursion. There is a need to be at least 4 to held the excursion. If anyone interrested, please let me know.

We will be in Belize on Feb 10th 2010. Liberty of the seas.;)

 

By the way, is there anyone that lived this adventure before?:o

[welldone60]

Go to the roll call for your sailing, also check to see what other ships are in port and go to thier roll call and ask.

 

Did this in Feb of this year, had a blast. Would not call the Wallace river small, but very few other boats on the river. I don't know why more people don't do this tour, most seem to do the tubing, but this was alot better tour to us.

 

Hope you can find someone to go with you. You will enjoy.

 

Happy cruising

[photonut4]

Hi,

 

I just got back from the Carnival Legend and we did this excursion in Belize. We did not have a very good experience with it. First off, when I booked this excursion it was to leave at 9:30 am which would leave about 45 minutes til the last tender, but a week before we got an email saying that the time had changed to 10:00 am. Now that took away a half hour of my buffer and we would not be back until 15 minutes before last tender. They tried to tell me that the tenders would wait for us. I argued this point with them, but they would not listen. Now we all know the ship doesn't wait for anyone that is late getting back from an excursion that was not booked through the ship. We then asked if everyone showed up early could we please leave early, and they said yes no problem. Well as luck would have it everyone did show up early and we left at 9:40, even though I didn't have a very good feeling about this. The boat ride to where we pick up the boats is very interesting, and we arrived at the boats in about 15 minutes. This is where we find out that half of the boats are broken. The people that no longer had their own boats to drive were put in the bigger boat that we had ridden in from the pier and were given a partial refund, because they are now observers. We did not get the kind of boat in the picture, but we did get another boat for just the 2 of us; however, the motor was running kind of rough at first. One of the tour guides got on our boat and discovered that the fuel line was kinked so he fixed it and all was fine. We started going through the mangroves, which are fun the interesting, then half way through we started having trouble with our motor again. The tour guide once again came aboard and tried to fix it. We putted along at a very slow speed putting us further behind schedule. Eventually we had to abandon our boat and climb into the observer boat. Later we caught up the the rest of our group, which travelled on ahead of us while we were having motor troubles. As we went along, our friends who had a boat like in the pictures also started having motor problems, but he guide was able to fix it and they were able to catch up to us. At one point the guide asked where the Legend lady is that is worried about getting back in time. I said that was me and it's not like we haven't had our problems today. He assured me that we would get back in time and we did. When we got back to the dock we did get a partial refund. At first he only wanted to give us $35 back, but we said no. He said the observer rate is $50 pp. I said ok then we should get $50 back as we paid $150. He then agreed. I do not know what the other people got back. They did not offer this info and I did not ask.

 

All in all I was glad that we went; however, I would never do it again. Knowing how bad they maintain their boats and with the time constrictions made for a very nerve racking excursion.

[La Cambuse]

First, thanks to Welldone 60 for giving me the idea to use the roll call for asking at everyone. This site is so large, I haven't discover all the posibilities yet.

 

Second, Photonut 4, your story scared me....:eek:

I don't want to waste my time trying to fix or debug their mechanical problems.:confused:

We now have enough of a hard time living in the snow around here.

 

This is supposed to be VACATION time !!! :cool:

 

I will go for cave tubing wich looks more relax and stressfree.

 

Thank you for your answers.

[azkcruizers]

UGH......I had heard nothing but positive things about the captain your own riverboat tour and booked it for 6 of us in February. I would not be happy to experience what you did either.........I am not as worried about making it back in time since we will be there all day, but I would like to be in the boats they are showing us and not experiencing a bunch of problems either. Now I am on the fence. I could email them with my concerns but of course I'm going to be assured that everything is taken care of. I was so looking forward to this and now I'm not sure what to do. :(

 

Karen

[photonut4]

This is why I posted my experience, because I had read nothing but postive reviews of this excursion. After doing this excursion I can fully understand why they were having motor problems. There is quite a bit of debris in the water from the mangroves, and some of it is impossible to miss, which is very hard on the motors. They said that they have to go into the mangroves every three weeks so clean up the newly fallen trees.

 

I was also disappointed not to get the boats advertise. Although the group boat was a nice boat ride, I prefer to be more of a participate in my activites and not a spectator.

 

Good luck on whatever you decide, and let me know if you need any more info.

[azkcruizers]

Hi Photonut..............Thanks for your help. I was wondering about how many people were on this excursion.........were there any of the boats that are shown in the pictures on their website. Did you even get to see much wildlife?

 

I'm on the fence..........still can't decide what to do. I know how disappointed I would be if I were in your shoes.....especially after the cost for the six of us..............

 

Oh well.......it would also be helpful if this was an excursion with a lot of feedback...but I don't hear about it too often.

 

Karen

[Kailyn]

I am so, so glad we ended up not booking this tour for this coming week. I really wanted to, but lately it seems all reports of Coral Breeze trips have been of broken boats. Karen, if I were in your shoes I would try to find something you would enjoy just as much. That way you won't possibly be disappointed. It seems like Coral Breeze used to be the best, but this is at least the 4th report I have seen this month of things going wrong and broken boats.

[photonut4]

Hi Karen,

 

We saw quite a few crocodiles, including one that was about 10 feet in length. We also saw many iguanas perching in the trees. They are very good at stopping and pointing all of these out. One lady says she saw a manatee, but we were busy fooling with our boats motor at the time and didn't see it. The river was very muddy from the previous weeks rain. They said normally you would be able to see more manatees and possibly dolphins.

 

Good luck with your decision.

[azkcruizers]

Kailyn........where else have you seen the negative reports?? I guess I hadn't noticed any until this one but I'm sure I could have missed them. I am considering cancelling just disappointed since this is what I really wanted to do.

 

Thanks

[carads]

Thanks for the info. We were scheduled for this tour last week but my wife was ill the night before and we cancelled by email from the ship that morning. We were going to reschedule for our next stop in Belize in February but probably won't now. On the plus side we weren't charged and they even credited back our deposit.

[Tedder]

Wife and I will be going next week. 12/16. We've done lots of research and with past reviews expect this excursion to be one of our all time favorites. Hopefully any recent mechanical issues are being addressed. Regardless I'm not going to sweat it. Anyone else going to be there on our date?

[Kailyn]

Kailyn........where else have you seen the negative reports?? I guess I hadn't noticed any until this one but I'm sure I could have missed them. I am considering cancelling just disappointed since this is what I really wanted to do.

 

Thanks

This is the first I have heard about the boats for the captain your own being bad, but the last several Coral Breeze snorkeling reviews have mentioned broken boats.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=21634789&postcount=6

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=21861244&postcount=11

 

It seems like this has only been a recent problem. Maybe it will be fixed by the time you go, hopefully. Coral Breeze/Hammerhead has overwhelmingly positive reviews in the past. I just couldn't take a chance since we are there in 6 da7s (yay!)

[azkcruizers]

TEDDER..................Could you please post a review when you get back? I really decided to cancel but my Dad seemed disappointed so I haven't done it yet. I was hoping you could let me know how things went for you when you come back.

Thanks so much!!

Karen

[Tedder]

TEDDER..................Could you please post a review when you get back? I really decided to cancel but my Dad seemed disappointed so I haven't done it yet. I was hoping you could let me know how things went for you when you come back.

Thanks so much!!

Karen

 

Sure, I'll let you know how it goes ;)

[azkcruizers]

Thanks!!! I hope you have a wonderful time :)

[azkcruizers]

Tedder........I hope you had a fantastic warm cruise :). I was wondering if you made it onto the riverboats or did the rain cancel it. If you did what did you think???? Was the excursion as advertised with the same boats and were they running well??? Dying to find out...lol..

Thanks again

Karen

[Tedder]

Tedder........I hope you had a fantastic warm cruise :). I was wondering if you made it onto the riverboats or did the rain cancel it. If you did what did you think???? Was the excursion as advertised with the same boats and were they running well??? Dying to find out...lol..

Thanks again

Karen

 

Yes we did the excursion Karen ;)

Will try to post up a review here tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

[azkcruizers]

I'm waiting patiently...............yeah right!!!! I have been leaning towards cancelling so when you give your review don't hold anything back :eek: Just kidding...I am hoping you had a wonderful time and all of their problems are miraculously fixed...can't wait to hear!

Karen

[Oakman]

I'm waiting patiently...............yeah right!!!! I have been leaning towards cancelling so when you give your review don't hold anything back :eek: Just kidding...I am hoping you had a wonderful time and all of their problems are miraculously fixed...can't wait to hear!

 

Karen

We did this excursion in September on the Carnival Legend. We had a GREAT time!!! Booked in advance with Coral Breeze, took an early tender and checked in at their desk pierside. There were 4 in our group (2 boats), and we ended up being the only ones on the excursion that day. Taken to a dock area via boat, given a safety briefing and driving instructions and we were on our way. Followed the guide boat (with 2 guides) through mangrove forest and onto the main river. Zipped up the river for 30 miles, stopped for lunch and returned. Great way to spend the day!!!

[Tedder]

I'm waiting patiently...............yeah right!!!! I have been leaning towards cancelling so when you give your review don't hold anything back :eek: Just kidding...I am hoping you had a wonderful time and all of their problems are miraculously fixed...can't wait to hear!

Karen

 

Sorry I didn't get back sooner but catching up on work and getting ready for the holidays has been nuts! I normally don't post because likes and dislikes of individuals very so much. "Different strokes for different folks" so I guess the best thing to do is start off by telling you a little about my wife and I so you get a better feel for my review. We're in our early 50's but still kids at heart and very active. We've done 9 cruises in the past 7 years all in the Western Caribbean except for one Eastern because of a forced itinarary change (Swine Flu). We've done all of the most popular excursions through independent operators in Cozumel, Belieze, Roatan, Costa Maya, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Captain your own boat has absolutely been added to our favorites list but may not be for those who are not a little adventurous.

We (4 couples) met our three guides outside the Wet Lizard and boarded an older six pack style dive boat which took us from the tender area to a dock down river that had a small service station/convenience store were snacks and drinks could be purchased to take along. When we returned to the dock our individual boats had been brought to us. Each captain was then given one on one instruction on how to operate the boat and off we went. The six pack boat with 2 guides led the way with three couples in their own boats and the last couple in a more traditional looking boat bringing up the rear with the 3rd guide. The river from the tender docks until we reached the mangroves wasn't a sparkling clean Caribbean paradise and there was a distinct economic difference between the North and South sides of the river but seeing the true way of life in the places we visit is exactly what we're looking for. It was a blast motoring through the narrow mangrove section of the river. It had been hand dug many years ago and used to move mahogany trees out to the main channel for exporting by ship. Some spots you run wide open as you snake your way through while other areas you had to stop and raise the motors (electric tilt) to pass over sunkin logs etc. One of our guides said the mangroves require constant work to keep it open as the jungle would quickly take over and make it impassable. Once through the mangrove the river opens up fairly wide. This is where we saw the majority of wildlife such as birds, alligators and iguanas. On the way back we got a quick glimps of a dolphin and also saw a deceased Manatee :( . Unfortunatly it was cloudy and rainy the day we were there so I'm sure we saw far less than usual.

To address some of your concerns Karen and not continue rambling lol I'll close with this: Our 40hp boats (just like in the pictures), and the 200hp lead boat that had also been used to transport us showed obvious signs of being well used but all ran just fine... Started easily, no missing, and idled down to a crawl without stalling.

The guides were very nice, fun, informative and had done the tours often enough to know the time lines EXACTLY so you get back with time to spare. After our tour we had time for a couple of local Belikin beers and chips at The Wet Lizard before making our way back to the tenders.

I'm glad to have done the popular cave tubing on a past cruise but without a doubt I enjoyed Captain your own boat much better and would personally recommend it to someone who may only get to Belieze once in their lifetime. I know that someday we'll be going back to Belieze and won't hesitate to book this excursion again. I want to do it on a sunny day!

One last thing I'd like to add is kudos to Coral Breeze. They responded quickly to all emails. It took a while to get booked because they didn't have the minimum of 4 people signed up when we first inquired.

Hope I've answered your questions - Go and have a great time ;)

[azkcruizers]

Tedder....Thank you so much for taking the time to review the riverboat excursion. We really do appreciate it.

We will be bringing my three children and I agree that we like and like the kids to see the true way of life in the places that we visit also. I thought this would be great to do something different than another beach day. I appreciate your honesty and do agree that an excursion that one may love another may hate and think you did a great job providing a description of what the tour is instead of just how much you enjoyed it.

We will keep our reservation and hope for sunny weather :) Thanks so much................by the way did you see any monkeys??

Karen

[Tedder]

Hi Karen,

We didn't see any monkeys in the wild that day. They huddle deep in the jungle when it rains. At our turn around point we got out of the boats and walked to a place that Royal Caribbean stops at. Really wasn't much to write home about but everyone enjoyed it. Only had a couple of rescued females and one had a baby. As we left we saw a wild male and 3 females from his troup crossing overhead on a wire. I'm sure if the weather was better we would have seen plenty more.

BTW-If it's a normal hot sunny Belieze day be sure to take a hat and sunscreen.

Happy holidays.

[welldone60]

 

 

We were lucky, we saw lots of monkeys.

[azkcruizers]

Thanks Tedder and Welldone...................for all of your help!

 

Happy Holidays