Cave Tubing Wet and Wild Grand Princess INFO!!!

[Sunrise]

As promised, here is my experience with Wet and Wild cave tubing in Belize (this post is also copied on the Princess page)...

 

 

Note to other cruise ship passengers - the Grand Princess is only in port for 6 hours so there are lots of concerns about making it back to the ship and those kind of logistic things. This review mostly talks about logistics.

 

We just got back from our cruise, and as promised I am posting about the Wet and Wild Cave Tubing experience. It was great. You definitely should book with a company outside of the ship for reasons you will see later. When we arrived in Belize it was cool and windy. All of the ships snorkeling excursions were cancelled. We met Marvin at the pier and it turned out that we were the only reservation they had for the day and he felt it was just too cold to go, but he did tell me that the ship tour was still going. They ended up re-booking us on a ruins tour instead of cave tubing – but suddenly a group of 8 from the Grand showed up wanting to go cave tubing, and suddenly the trip was back on! Wet and Wild is very reputable. Marvin took good care of us – even called me on the phone in the van b/c they accidentally charged me $10 too much (confusion when we booked the other tour when we thought cave tubing was a no-go). He also called and spoke to me on the way back from the caves just to see if we had a good time. Before I booked this tour I was terribly concerned about the short time in port and getting back to the ship in time. We didn’t leave the pier until 2:10 pm due to the late booking of our group and members running off to buy stuff before the trip. Let me tell you now that you should erase any concern about time out of your mind right now. We passed the cruise tours on our way there and also on our way back. There is plenty of time to do this tour. When I asked what would happen if our van broke down, the driver held up his cell phone and said, “We have many friends.”

 

The tubing itself was great! As I mentioned, we were late starting out so we went pretty fast through the forest. We did eat leaves, considered eating termites, and all those things reported by other groups. The caves were awesome – so much fun! We passed the cruise tour on the path and again in the caves (they had 3 tour busses full of people). We actually took a longer hike and a longer river route than the cruise – which was great.

 

If I were to do it again – I would definitely book with Wet and Wild. The van was nice, Carlos, one of our guides, is adorable – he gives you all sorts of info on Belize so sit near the front of the van. They got us back to the pier ahead of the cruise groups at about 6PM. Although they did not solicit, we tipped them well for giving us such a great trip.

 

Please feel free to ask me any questions you have about this trip.

[WalkOnDeck]

Thanks for the info!!!

[maverickks]

Sunrise,

 

Our family is also going to be on the Grand in a couple of months. I have a couple of questions for you. Would you please contact me at maverickks@cox.net so I could ask you a few question? Thank you in advance for your information.

 

Jeff

[ERCruiser]

Sunrise or any other Wet and Wild veteran-

 

What did you leave behind in the van? Just dry clothes, cameras, etc. I don't plan to carry my wallet on this excursion, and I wanted to know how safe you felt leaving stuff behind.

 

**edit- I plan to leave my wallet on the ship, not in the van.**

[cruisinhs]

We brought some money in a money pouch that we wanted to used for shopping at the pier area before getting back on the ship and I felt very safe leaving it on board the van. It was a really nice 15 passenger van and they lock everything up. Also, it's a state park, so there are police/gaurds around. We wore clothes over our swimsuits and took the clothes off at the river. We brought a towel and dry clothes to change into, our camera and a small amount of cash. I honestly felt 100% safe leaving my things in the locked van.

[Sunrise]

We left everything in the van -- digital camera, money, towels, everything. No problems!

[like2cruise]

We are doing this tour...but I haven't read anywhere about people eating leaves and termites...can you expand on that part of the experience :-)

[cruisinhs]

I'm not adventurous when it comes to eating things, however there was one man in our group who ate a termite. The leaves are from a tree that is supposed to be like a natural *****. Instead of having us chew the leaves, our guide went and got us some of the liquid they make out of the leaves. Needless to say, us ladies let the men be the ones to partake. They all made pretty funny faces when they drank it! Honestly, this excursion can be as crazy as you are willing to make it!

[Canuck Cruzer]

We are on the Grand at the start of April. I have reserved through Princess to do the cave tubing...but would prefer the independent tours. Glad to see it worked for you. I am hoping to hear from others who may have done this also.

 

One thing that we have going for us is we are the only ship in port that day.

 

I guess I am sitting on the fence...what to do, what to do.