Vitalino Reyes, Vital Nature Tours

[printingchick]

Any experience with this tour operator in Belize? Feedback?

[boricua2007]

When are you cruising? We have a cave tubing tour with them in two weeks, so I can probably tell you in the near future. I booked them cause of the reviews here and in tripadvisor. So far communication has been great. He (Vitalino) even called me, but I missed the call!

If you do a search on the boards you'll find some information. I read a good review just recently. If you do a search, don't confused them with cave-tubing.com; they are cave tubing.bz

[printingchick]

Thanks!

 

I'm not cruising until February 2011, so I have TONS of time. Please come back and let me know about your experience. I found him on Trip Advisor, and the reviews there were great.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!! I wish I was going that soon!

[CocoaMom]

I booked with him for our June cruise after reading lots of positive reviews. I had posted a while ago asking for info, Brad replied to me and I've copied his reply for you too:

 

 

"We used Vitalino for our visit in early February... I highly recommend their operation, its really a quality group of people.

 

You can read my review of our experience here on tripadvisor:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...n_Corozal.html

 

Hope this answers some of your questions.. if you have more, don't hesitate to ask.

 

Brad "

[boricua2007]

Thanks. 7 days and counting:D

 

"I'll be back"

[nm lobos]

We went Cave Tubing w/Vitalino in March, actually Vitalino Jr. was our guide. He was great, and the whole operation was professional. Be sure to print out your instructions on how to find him. There are tons of people trying to sell you a tour.

[PnkyandtheBrain]

Yep, I can absolutely say you will be happy with Vitallino...

 

We used Vital in Belize and Native Choice in Costa Maya, and I can tell you that it was a real challenge to decide which one of those two operators left us with the better impression. They both took such good care of us and we had such a good time.

 

My review of our visit is linked above. Hope it gives you a good sense of how good a time we had on the trip.

 

Brad

[printingchick]

Very good to hear. See...this is why I LOVE these boards!!! Thanks!

[STARFISH*4]

what kind of tubes does cavetubing.bz use?

[boricua2007]

It was great! The tubes they use are the black ones, but for us that wasn't a problem. Water level was better than a post I read on CC board before. It was still shallow but we didn't have a lot of butts up zones.

 

We saw two caves, they hooked us in chains for the caves. First cave 2 groups of 6 and 7 I think? Then for the second cave, came a third guide and we were divided in 3 groups of 4 or 5 each. After viewing the caves they let us (well, helped us!) float down the river till the end of the tour.

 

Our experience was a good one and we did enjoyed it. It wasn't an extreme rapid river experience, but we we're not looking for one.

 

The "hike" is not bad, but you do have to walk quit a bit. Is a trail fill with "river rocks". I got to tell you that my acqua shoes died there!!! but they were old, cheap and I brought them specially for that tour!!!!

 

Our guides were Vitorini , jr and Edward (King Edward we joke!), the third guide never got his name.

 

After the tour, we changed and went to Vitorino's home to eat rice and chicken and drink rum punch. The food was good. We ate twice! and for me, it was the closest to home food I ate! and we took a serving of rum punch to go. (That stuff was the real thing!!!)

 

For those of you going on a cruise soon, hope you have a blast. We sure did!!!

 

And yes, I highly recommend Vitorino cavetubing.bz

[STARFISH*4]

It was great! The tubes they use are the black ones, but for us that wasn't a problem. Water level was better than a post I read on CC board before. It was still shallow but we didn't have a lot of butts up zones.

 

:(thanks for the tube info...hubby is a big guy and as much as i have been reading about the black tubes, doesnt seem like this would be the way to go

[azkcruizers]

Starfish....I have emailed with cavetubing.bz and was told that a new law could require all companies to use the yellow tubes in November....not sure if it is definite or not though. I also know that Nacho and Cynthia use the yellow tubes..I spoke with him on the phone last week. His website is www.ncqadventuretours.com

[printingchick]

It was great! The tubes they use are the black ones, but for us that wasn't a problem. Water level was better than a post I read on CC board before. It was still shallow but we didn't have a lot of butts up zones.

 

We saw two caves, they hooked us in chains for the caves. First cave 2 groups of 6 and 7 I think? Then for the second cave, came a third guide and we were divided in 3 groups of 4 or 5 each. After viewing the caves they let us (well, helped us!) float down the river till the end of the tour.

 

Our experience was a good one and we did enjoyed it. It wasn't an extreme rapid river experience, but we we're not looking for one.

 

The "hike" is not bad, but you do have to walk quit a bit. Is a trail fill with "river rocks". I got to tell you that my acqua shoes died there!!! but they were old, cheap and I brought them specially for that tour!!!!

 

Our guides were Vitorini , jr and Edward (King Edward we joke!), the third guide never got his name.

 

After the tour, we changed and went to Vitorino's home to eat rice and chicken and drink rum punch. The food was good. We ate twice! and for me, it was the closest to home food I ate! and we took a serving of rum punch to go. (That stuff was the real thing!!!)

 

For those of you going on a cruise soon, hope you have a blast. We sure did!!!

 

And yes, I highly recommend Vitorino cavetubing.bz

 

Thanks for this great review!! We've booked with them for our cruise in February. I'm looking forward to it even more now!!!

[ciship]

I'm really nervous about doing this excursion because it is so far away from the ship and I worry we won't get back to the ship on time. Is there plenty of time to get there, do the tour, and get back?

[Eeyoregon]

I just booked with Vitalino for our October cruise and will report back.

 

He informed me that they have all NEW equiptment (you can see pictures of it at cavetubing.bz). I thought the $45 price was great since it also includes lunch and beverages! I also like being able to pay the day of the excursion.

 

Very good communication so far!

 

Gina

[ciship]

I just booked with Vitalino for our October cruise and will report back.

 

He informed me that they have all NEW equiptment (you can see pictures of it at cavetubing.bz). I thought the $45 price was great since it also includes lunch and beverages! I also like being able to pay the day of the excursion.

 

Very good communication so far!

 

Gina

 

 

Oh YES, please report back to us!! Have a great cruise!

[printingchick]

I just booked with Vitalino for our October cruise and will report back.

 

He informed me that they have all NEW equiptment (you can see pictures of it at cavetubing.bz). I thought the $45 price was great since it also includes lunch and beverages! I also like being able to pay the day of the excursion.

 

Very good communication so far!

 

Gina

 

Anxious to hear your feedback! We'll be with Vitalino in February!

[AryMay]

We did a tour with Vitalino's company on Friday, August 20th. Setting up the tour was easy...Vito promptly responded to all of my emails and even called me on the phone a few days before our cruise to say they were looking forward to seeing us.

 

Our group of 7 shared a van with another family of 4 for the ride to the caves. The ride was about an hour and Fabulous told us lots and lots about the country of Belize. My DIL is a geography teacher and loved hearing about his country. (Fabulous has a college education and knows his stuff!)

 

When we arrived at the place to start our walk through the jungle, there was a LARGE motorcoach bus with people on the cavetubing dot com tour. I have read many good reviews from this company but on this particular day their groups were very large...especially in contrast to our small group.

 

When we reached the river we split into two groups....our family was with Fabulous and the other 4 were with Vito, Jr. In this photo you can see the large group from cavetubing dot com with the yellow tubes.

 

 

As we walked through the jungle Fabulous had us stop frequently to look at things and taste all sorts of stuff...including termites from a nest!

 

 

Throughout the day Fabulous would pull us aside and let these large groups pass by us. They missed seeing many things we saw in the jungle and also in the caves (including a waterfall!) Several times folks from the other groups would want to stop to see what we were looking at, but were told to keep on walking since they weren't with our group. Vito, Jr. even coaxed a tarantula out of his hole and let us take turns holding it.

 

 

After tubing we stopped by Vito's sister's house and were given a delicious meal and our choice of bottled soda or rum punch. For being the one who booked our tour, Fabulous gave me a cavetubing.bz t-shirt.

 

Based on our tour I can highly recommend cavetubing dot bz with Vitalino. The cost is the same as the other companies...includes lunch...and the personal service is excellent!

 

I am in the process of writing a long review of our Carnival Legend cruise and will include more details and photos when I get to the section on Belize. If you are interested in reading more, you can find the review here:

 

August 15th Legend Family Cruise