Beach and Canopy Tour clothing

[flojonic]

We have confirmations for the Tabyana Beach & Canopy Tour next week and are wondering what type of clothing is appropiate for the Canopy Tour. Are long pants, Ex. Jeans suggested for this tour? Also, is there a place when you get to the beach to change into beach wear or are you expected to wear your tour clothing over the beach wear? I'm assuming that whatever bags you might take will be transported to the beach when your dropped off for the canopy tour. What is the approximate length of this excursion? We will be on the island from 9 am to 5 pm and wondering if this will consume the entire time there or if there might be time to do another event. Thanks.

[bwellen]

We did this tour a couple of weeks ago on the NCL Dream.

 

I saw a few people wearing pants, but the vast majority (including us) were wearing shorts. Shorts are definitely fine, and even though you are in the jungle/forest we did not notice any bugs at all.

 

Tabyana has changing rooms.

 

When you get to the canopy tour, you leave your belongings in the van which brought you there. At the end of the canopy tour, you get back on the same van (which will meet you at the bottom of the hill) and you are transported to Tabyana Beach. It is a short trip, maybe 10 minutes.

 

Our ship was in port from noon to 7 PM. The busses started making return trips to the pier at 3:30 and the last bus left Tabyana at 5:00 PM. You will have enough time to do some shopping around the port, but you won't be able to travel to any other parts of the island if that is what you are wondering about.

 

Hope this answers your questions and I would be happy to answer any more you might have.

 

PS: We really did enjoy this tour. The zip line was alot of fun and Tabyana Beach is very nice. The food was pretty good as well.

[Diana68]

Thank you for that info bwellen. We will be on the Dream and are booked on this tour for Feb. 16. My son is a little anxious about this tour, and would like to know how fast you zip along. Also, do you know if there is a weight restriction?

[bwellen]

If I remember correctly, I believe that the the tickets said that there was a weight limit of 250 lbs. However, when our group was ready to start, it sounded like they said that they wanted anyone who was over 250 lbs. to go first. So I was a little confused about that; however we were towards the back of the group so I didn't really hear clearly what he was saying.

 

You actually are able to control the speed at which you travel. You use your dominant hand as your "brake". You wear heavy leather gloves and you grip the cable behind the pulley. If you want to slow down, you lean back so that you are pulling down on the cable with that hand. The guides are very good about instructing you on how to do this and it is much easier than it probably sounds. Also, each segment of the zip line is different. On some they want you to control your speed the whole way. On others they tell you to start braking about half way down. On a couple of segments they did not want you to brake at all because it is relatively flat section. I know that on one of the flat sections I did not have enough speed to make it all the way to the platform. I stopped about 20 feet short. If this happens you can either turn around and pull yourself along the cable hand over hand; or one of the guides will come out on the cable and pull you in. Also, if someone were to foget to brake, the guide at the end of platform will stop you. You don't have to worry about hitting any trees or anything.

 

I know your son will have alot of fun. In our group there was a boy who I would gues was about 10-12 years old. He was very nervous at the start and seemed very timid about the whole thing. By the time we were half way down, he was having a blast.

[flojonic]

Thanks, Bwellen, that is most helpful. We are definitely looking forward to this part of our cruise!:)

[Diana68]

Thank you bwellen. My 13 year old said that your message made him feel a lot better.

[japit]

We just went on Dream 1-16 and did Canopy tour. We took our kids 11, 12 & 14 they all had a blast. I am afraid of heights and I was nervous at first but once I got going it was alot of fun. This is something we will talk about forever. On our excursion tickets it said there was a weight limit of 225, my husband is 240 so I went to shore excursion desk and was told not to worry about it. When we got there, some of the people were quite a bit bigger than my husband and no one had any problems. Age really doesn't matter much either. The one couple had to be about 70 and they did great. The only regret I have is not taking the option of getting pictures taken for $10. Now that I am home nobody can believe I did this. You will have a great time! Enjoy!!!!!!!

[roddee]

We just returned from our 1/22 cruise on the NCL Sun last week. We did the canopy tour and I did get the photo taken. It comes in a photo cover made of banana paper, which is a great souvenier, but we also took our digital camera and video camera and took pictures of each other. As long as your camera is strapped onto the wrist of your breaking arm (so that it doesn't bang on the straps etc) it isn't a problem. We got some great photos and film.

I wore capris, to protect a prior leg injury, but most wore shorts. They have people at each stop to direct you and prevent you from going too fast, rescue you if you stop too soon, and so it really doesn't matter what you wear. You should be fine. People of all ages were participating. Bugs were not a problem, even though we took Deet spray just in case, we didn't need it, even on Tabyana beach.(possibly just that time of year). We would do this again without hesitation.

Dee