Island Marketing v. Coral Breeze for Altun Ha

[elkaholic]

Hi gang. We will be in Belize in September with the Dream and are planning on taking a private tour to Altun Ha. We have narrowed it down to either Island Marketing (belizecruiseexcursions -dot- com) or Coral Breeze. Both offer basically the same thing and there is only a $2 difference in price. I was hoping you guys can give me the pros and cons of either one. I don't know that I will get side-by-side comparison by the same people, but I just want to know which one I should use (or shouldn't) and why.

Thanks in advance.

[bubbachief]

Hi gang. We will be in Belize in September with the Dream and are planning on taking a private tour to Altun Ha. We have narrowed it down to either Island Marketing (belizecruiseexcursions -dot- com) or Coral Breeze. Both offer basically the same thing and there is only a $2 difference in price. I was hoping you guys can give me the pros and cons of either one. I don't know that I will get side-by-side comparison by the same people, but I just want to know which one I should use (or shouldn't) and why.

Thanks in advance.

 

We used Island Marketing for cave tubing in Belize and zip line in Roatan. We were very happy with both tours. Don't have any info on Coral Breeze.

[ama-sam]

We used Island Marketing (Belize Cruise Excurstions) for the Altun Ha tour. From an previous review:

We really enjoyed our excursion to Altun Ha with Belize Cruise Excursions. The timing details that I was concerned about were not an issue – we were back in plenty of time to tender back to the ship and in fact there was no line waiting for us! There was some time for shopping before the tour – but we do not tend to buy much on our vacations. Afterwards, it would be tight to schedule in shopping time.

I will also say it was hot – I knew it would be, but wow! I was saddened that our bus was NOT well air conditioned. It was an old school bus and more like a light, coolish breeze, than actual air conditioning – and we were sitting in the front row (not necessarily a good idea given the VERY narrow roads of Belize – much like playing chicken!).

Our driver and guide were very friendly; they stopped along the way to get us mangoes – refreshing! I mention the roads, because they are not like our highways, they are narrow, with many potholes, etc; my husband noticed that our driver would chuckle about his passengers white knuckled ride, but he was very capable! The tour of the city on the way to the ruins was informative and relaxing.

The ruins themselves were beautiful – it is great to be able to walk on them – not roped off like so many historical sites. The lunch that followed was also very good – chicken w/rice & beans, and cold lemonade. The grounds were nice – a butterfly hours, some birds, etc. I walked under a mango tree and was swarmed by mosquitoes – despite my bug spray – but was unaffected by bugs at the ruins with my bug repellant.

Would be happy to answer any questions…

Ally

[jdbmga]

I have no experience with Island Marketing but haven't read a bad review. We used Coral Breeze to dive with last year and would not book through them again. I have read several bad reviews on their other tours since we've been back as well.