ATV Jungle and Cave tour with Carnival

[mojo60]

I would like some information on this tour. Like how much of the Rainforest do you see, is it a lot of walking and is the walk difficult? I have no concerns about me, but I will have my mother (She is healthy but getting up in age.) I will also have my 10 year old niece with me. I was concerned about steep hills or rough terrian. The rating gives it a 3 but i was wondering if anyone has been on this and could advise me.:)

[wgeddings]

First, I strongly recommend that you do not use the cruise ship tour and instead book with a local company. We were there at the end of November (and had been before a couple of years ago) and there is a huge difference between a private tour company and a ship tour. The biggest difference is that the ship tour tends to be rushed, impersonal and cost up to twice what a local company charges.

 

You can read my full review of our time in Belize as part of my overall cruise review at http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberre...?EntryID=60115. It has a lot of information about the ATV and cave tubing combo tour through cave-tubing.com. Whether you are with that company or not, it answers many of the questions you will have.

 

The cave-tubing/jungle walk is on a smooth well-worn path that is not difficult. There are a few places where steep stairs are involved but there is a handrail and it is not overly difficult. if your mother is able to walk around a mall for 30 mins, she should be fine. Remember though that you will be in a jungle. That means that it will be very muggy and warm even if it is not hot. This just means that it will sap strength quicker so take a leisurely pace. If the guide is moving too fast, ask them to slow down. The sights you see in the jungle vary each time and are worth noticing. As I said, the benchmark I would use is whether or not someone is able to walk for at least 30 minutes since that is about how long it takes at a reasonable pace.

 

Check the review and if you have any other questions I can help with, please do not hesitate to ask. Hope you have a great trip.

[mojo60]

Thanks so much for the info. I will go read your reveiw.

[Pirate's Cutie]

You can read my full review of our time in Belize as part of my overall cruise review at http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberre...?EntryID=60115. It has a lot of information about the ATV and cave tubing combo tour through cave-tubing.com. Whether you are with that company or not, it answers many of the questions you will have.

 

 

Thank you very much for the thorough review. We have this exact excursion booked for early January and your review is the most detailed I have seen so far. Full of those "wish I knew that in advance" tips. Thanks!

[wgeddings]

Love the screen name Pirate's Cutie and I am happy if my review helped. I hope you get Evan as your guide. If you are going on the same thing, let me just emphasize a couple of things. Bring a full change of clothes. Definitely plan to eat the Stewed Chicken since it was delicious and don't forget to try the "Panty Ripper" drink. Let one of the people working at the ATV site take pictures but be sure they know how to work your camera (with mine, they moved the camera too quickly after pressing the button so many pictures are blurry). On the hike and tube portion, tell the guide if you want to speed up or slow down and be sure to ask questions. If you are enjoying it, the guide will enjoy it too so let him know what you like or want.

 

One thing I have not mentioned before is about tipping the guide. I am never sure about this and maybe some others will chime in but hopefully we can avoid the "I always tip 3 times what the trip costs" braggards as well as the "I never tip" people. I would have loved some good tip advice from reasonable people because I never know for sure what is fair or reasonable although I did like cave-tubing.com's policy of pay at the end. For us, it was $300 for the 4 of us ($75 each for the combo tour) and I tipped $50.00. My general rule of thumb is to tip about 10% on trips (restaurants are different) but Evan did good so I went higher.

 

I know some would worry carrying that much cash and then leaving it locked in the car/van or bus but I felt very secure doing it (and I did not take too much more than I figured I would need). Remember, they do not take credit cards so it is cash only.

 

I hope you have a great time.

[caribbean_dream]

Wgeddings - Thanks for the info and great review on Cave-tubing.com! We went to Belize in Jan 07 on NCL and went on the FABULOUS ATV jungle/cave tour booked through the ship but I have no idea what "company" it was booked through. The guides were locals who claimed to have grown up in the area and they took us through some caves they used to frequent when they were younger. It was one of the best ever tours I've been on.

 

We are considering a Carnival Cruise in Nov 2010 and was hoping to go on a similar ATV tour although we don't see anything similar listed on the Carnival excursions page so I'm going to book the combo tour through cave-tubing!! And thanks for the great tipping suggestions - I think 10%-up is a great guideline.