family snorkeling in Belize

[pagtr]

We will be docking in Belize City via the RC Navigator of the Seas in April 2010. We are very interested in doing some snorkeling. The cruise line does offer 2 snorkeling excursions but we were wondering if we could go independently of the cruise line. Does anyone have suggestions or should we just go with the RC-offered snorkeling excursions?

Thanks

[AuTiger7]

We will be docking in Belize City via the RC Navigator of the Seas in April 2010. We are very interested in doing some snorkeling. The cruise line does offer 2 snorkeling excursions but we were wondering if we could go independently of the cruise line. Does anyone have suggestions or should we just go with the RC-offered snorkeling excursions?

Thanks

 

I was wondering about this same question.

[Gonz]

Your best bet would be to look at the dozen or so topics about this that have already been started in the past two weeks. Just look a little further down the page at the titles of other people's topics, and you'll see quite a few about snorkeling and whether or not to use the ship tour or a private operator.

[bksmitty]

I would recommend, Coral Breeze. Our family went about two years ago and my children were only 5, 8, and 9. They took very good care of the kids to make sure they did not get stuck in coral. In fact, my son swam into coral and one of the guides lifted him over his head to clear him of it. There were 5 guides to our 10 people. We also got an added bonus of dauphin swimming next to our boat. It was our best day of our cruise. They really seem to enjoy what they do.

[NoKlew]

I'm With bksmitty on this one,

I have been posting this everywhere I can, this was the best snorkel trip I have ever been on. As for your particular situation this is a 3 part trip, Reef Snorkel, Stingray Snorkel and Beach Break. They actually stop at the beach first to drop off whoever does not snorkel and for a Pit Stop for whoever needs one before snorkeling. I researched Goffes and Turneffe before going on the trip and those are the cruise Hot Spots, if you want really good relaxing snorkeling with a an asbolutely unbelievable reef this is the trip.

 

We just got back on the Carnival Valor on March 7th. Belize was by far my favorite stop. If your crew is into Snorkeling, this is the place to be. There were seven us on the trip including a 12 and a 13 year old. Having cruised and snorkeled other islands I opted out of the actual Cruise Excursions, the crowded boats and beat up reefs and booked a private trip through http://www.coralbreezetours.com/ after doing alot of research on the web, they stay ontop of the ship and tender schedules and make sure to get you back in plenty of time to get back, No one wants to get stranded on an Island(even though I could think of worse places to be stranded). If your ship cannot port there for any reason they will refund your deposit. They use a tour company their called Hammerhead sports, if you were to book it ask to have Henny, Justin and Mark as your crew. They were absolutely terrific they take great care of everyone on board, they snorkel with you and go out of their way to make sure you see, and know what everything is above and below the surface, the kids loved the stingray snorkel part of the trip too, even though Stingray City in Cayman is better for the rays. I really can't express how impressed we were with them. Whatever you choose to do, I can almost guarantee you will be more than happy you made it to Belize, I can't wait to get back!

[Will in sunny FL]

I second the suggestion on Coral Breeze as they will take great care of your family.

Do a search for their web site.

Enjoy Belize.

bill in FL

[MrBentley]

We just did the trip with Coral Breezes/ HammerHead last weel. We were very pleased. The crew was very nice and did absolutely great with my 61/2 year old son. It was his first time snorkeling, and he got a little freaked out by the salt water. The guide came over comforted him and swam with him holding hands most of the trip. He turned what could have been a bad experience for my son into a great time. The food on the island was quite good too. We still had at least 45 min to shop before boarding the tender back to the ship.

I had booked ahead of time on line and they had all of my information and record of my deposit when we got to the dock.

[tbmrt]

We are interested in snorkeling during our 7AM - 5PM time in Belize. However,

we've already been to Stingray City so didn't want to do the Coral Breezes tour that included time there.

 

On many of the tours we've taken during past cruises, the snorkeling time is really short.

 

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a tour that is solely for snorkeling along a reef rather than incorporating the other tourist type attractions.

[MamaParrotHead]

Other issues aside, you should know that when we went with Hammerhead/Coral Breezes, they had no child life vests (which I didn't find out about until we were out at the reef, inspite of letting everyone know- from the time I reserved, to when we were being fitted for our gear at the dock). They twisted an adult life vest around my 6 YO (with maybe a dozen swimming lessons under his belt)'s waist and plopped him in the ocean. Obviously unsettling as a parent and even MORE obviously unsafe.

[AuTiger7]

We went with Ecotours on March 18 and they did a great job. We wanted to do the Shark Ray Alley Tour through Coral Breeze but the tour operator would not book us due to want he called "poor tendering process on the NCL Spirit" and the fact that we would not make it to shore in time based on this fact. Well guess what.... we would not have make the tour due to the fact that the NCL Spirit's tendering ticket distribution process and tendering process is the most disorganized process that I have ever seen. It was worse than Black Friday at Walmart or Best Buy.:mad: We did make our snorkel tour with Eco though. They had to wait 30 minutes for us though.

[Princess Mummy]

We will be docking in Belize City via the RC Navigator of the Seas in April 2010. We are very interested in doing some snorkeling. The cruise line does offer 2 snorkeling excursions but we were wondering if we could go independently of the cruise line. Does anyone have suggestions or should we just go with the RC-offered snorkeling excursions?

Thanks

If you decide on Coral Breeze, some videos of the area they will take you to at Caye Caulker

Enjoy

 

[seargo]

Thanks for all the info on Coral Breezes. Would you recommend the Caye Kauker/Reef Snorkel or Bannister Island/Manatee watch?

[m and m's]

We used Coral Breeze late March. Tour was way overbooked, I had to sit on bump in front of driver, staff rode top of boat. We had to wait while some of our crew checked in another tour, and that boat was loaded and gone in order for our boat to dock. We left 45 min late, which cut down our time everywhere. On Caye Caukler had only one hour, not enough time to get lunch or explore much We did not want the predetermined lunch and thought we would have some time as posted on site. Only had time for a coke.

Also, one in our party had mask trouble. A crew member thought it was a fog problem, and when his fix for that didn't work, he left her and her partners at the boat to fend for themselves. That meant 3 people did not see the coral reef snorkel at all. They were supposed to provide equip. but did not carry extra on board to help with problems. I was following tour and when I didn't see my family I felt I was too far from the boat to go back and continued tour wondering where they were. Also with so many on the boat it took awhile for everyone to get in the water and we all went off as one big group. Those in front or sitting in middle of boat had to wait for others to get in. Disorganized and rushed, plus no help if you had difficulties. Coral Breeze sent an email, and in response to above returned $50, but we had paid $280 for the trip, and 3 people didn't see most of it.

[sunandsnow]

We went with Coral Breeze on 3/24. Maybe it was a bad week for them. We too thought that they were disorganzied at the pier. Two tours trying to leave at the same time. They had people getting on the wrong boats for the wrong tours. Our tour left 25 min late which made everything feel rushed. We got our lunch and ate it on the boat. Our snorkel with the stingrays was about 10 min. - jump in, look, get back in the boat! I did a lot of research and I know the choices are limited. Tried to book first with Eco Tours but they were not doing the Stingrays that day. For us trying to do the water taxi on our own did not seem reasonable because of time constraints (we were dealing with daylight savings time change and were looking at a two hour time difference). Coral Breeze did an okay job just thought tour was overpriced for the amount of actual snorkeling time and for them not sticking to schedule posted because of their lack of organization. Would we go with them again - probably not.

[Moochanator]

Coral Breezes was booked when my family was there 4/11/10 so we booked the Ecological Tours Gallows Point Snorkel and Beach break.

 

I thought it was pretty good. The boat on the way out is pretty sun-baked so bring some sunscreen. I brought one of those floaty suits for my 6 year old from home and it was PERFECT.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Body-Glove-Swimming-Childrens-Authorized/dp/B001DXBMGO

 

He loved the snorkeling and took to it very well

The tour operator only had the orange foam-core type II vests so it wouldn't have fit him very well and actually wearing it and snorkeling would have been nearly impossible.

 

I brought his own child-size gear, too. I don't know if the operator has kid-sized gear or not.