Anyone taken Carnival's Cave Tubing?

[rosiemannc]

I know there are many who have done Cave Tubing through other companies but my family and I are planning to book through the ship.

 

I would like to know if anyone has taken the tour since they started offering it again?

[Deemuch]

We just came back from our Cruise in April. We did the Cave Tubing Excursion through Carnival and it was great. We were unsure if we wanted to go private tour, even though I have heard all the great reviews. We wanted to stick with the ship just because it would be their responsibility if anything happened as far as being late back to the ship etc...

 

We were happy with our choice. We were a group of 11 ( 6 kids, 5 adults ages 11 - 15yrs for kids ) and we were all linked together - 2 rows of 6, and we never had to do anything the whole time, just sit back in our tube while our guide pushed us. We did 2 caves. Second one was longer, and more to see.

 

Our guide on the bus was Patrick & he was also our guide in the caves...he was great. My only disappointment if I had one, was that there was NO rapids, and I was expecting some flowing waters, and rushing along through the caves & outside the caves. Maybe we didnt have the chance to experience them because he was pushing us the whole time.....but I didn`t even get wet. Other than my butt, but thats it.

 

I actually took a risk and took my good digital camera with me, even though they stressed not to take anything with you, except maybe water camera. They have lockers there. I brought along a clear water protective bag for my camera with a string that I put around me neck. I didnt want to miss the advantage of taking some great pics. I kept taking the camera in & out of the bag....waiting for when I was going to get wet from the rapids. Never happened. I basically had the camera out the whole time, not even a splash. With not having to paddle around with our hands...I had them free to take all the pictures I wanted.

 

So good thing...I have some fantastic pictures!! but on the other hand I would have liked to have been able to move around a bit more on our own.

Maybe we hit a slow time on the river...so it wasnt as adventurous as I was thinking it was going to be...

 

by the way, they do take pictures of you along your way to the caves...but mine turned out way better, plus I took pics inside the caves of our group and the caves themselves which they did not.

 

 

Hope that helps.

[smurfm69]

We did the cave tubing with major Tom and the guys at cave-tubingdotnet and are glad we didn't go through Carnival. First, there was the price difference.(Carnival was $80 per person, and Major Tom was $45 per person) The tubes were different as well. Carnival uses the big yellow tubes with handles while major Tom uses regular tire tubes. They told us the big yellow tubes can easily pop if you hit one of the rocks on the side or bottom and with the depth inside the caves over 20 ft, that wouldn't be fun. The regular tire tubes are thicker. The biggest difference was the service! The groups were smaller allowing a more personal experience with major Tom and they let us go swimming in the water at a couple spots as well as jump off some rocks into the water where it was deep enough. Carnival folks didn't get to do this. We also got to taste termites from a nest in the forest that tasted like mint and sample real allspice from an allspice tree growing over the river.

Time is a big issue with people considering this excursion and we made it back to the port/tender area with about an hour to spare. We loved this port and would go back without any doubts.

[abears]

We booked through Carnival and in my opinion the Cave Tubing is over rated. There was not much of a current in the river, so my husband had to work to get us through the river, it was not a relaxing day for him. The bus ride was about an hour to the tube site. Really wished we would have done something else.

[LHP]

Here is the "key" to cave tubing.

 

Linking is not any good unless you are linked TO A GUIDE.

 

Independent tours like Yhony (cave-tubing.com) link the train to a guide so that the guide does all the work. (especially in the dry months like May when there is no current to carry you)

 

Hubby and oldest son did it in May 2008 and the guide pulled them when needed...they did not have to do a thing but enjoy the ride.

 

Just being linked to "another person" is not sufficient....linking to a guide is key.

[hockeylover]

My DH and I just did this through Carnival Cruise lines the week of May 16th. We took a tender to the Belize port, then onto an air conditioned coach bus. Our guide was VERY informative on our way to the tubing site. Once at the site we did load into a school bus to go up a large hill (took 1 minute) then we were at the site. We got our gear and wore the life jacket and helmet and carried our large yellow tubes with handles along the trail. Very easy hiking. The water was high, so no "butts up" There are areas where the water depth ranges from 6" to 32' so our guide told us. The guides work hard. All 11 of us were in 2 rows, connected by feet and armpits. (I was not looking forward to that part, but once you hike with everyone in your group and start to talk, you get to know them a little bit and it is easier. I personally would not want to be unlinked.) The guides pull your group through the shallower parts. We went through 2 caves (#3 and 4 I believe) I would have rather had more tubing in the river and enjoying the views, but most of the time was in the caves. It was just the right amount of time for tubing as it is not that comfy in the tubes. We saw others who booked their own excursion with black tubes and orange life jackets. Our life jackets were the type that zippered up, comfy for a life jacket. After we were finished, we changed, got a quick snack and drink (at our cost) and we rode the school bus back to our coach bus. We are very glad we did this through the ship. No regrets here.

[rosiemannc]

did you take extra clothes to change after the excursion? if so, where did you leave your stuff and where did you change?

[hockeylover]

We did take extra clothes and changed in their changing rooms. There are lockers to rent (dh took care of that i think 5 bucks or so). The day we were there we ran out of lockers so they gave us a large black trash bag and we put all of our belongings (except our sign and sail card and credit card and cash, we carried those in a plastic water-safe box that fit in dh's swimsuit pocket) in the bag and they put our name and number on it and locked it in an outdoor closet type thing. I had some concerns, but in the end i watched the process and it was very secure.

[vfb2girls]

I am glad to hear we weren't the only ones who thought the whole cave tubing excursion was over rated, we booked through Island Marketing and our guide was fantastic but the tour itself just was a dissappointment. I am not sure if it was the water being so dang cold and it not being very warm out to begin with. I am glad we went though, now we can look forward to doing something else on our next trip to Belize.