How trustworthy and timely is Coral Breeze on their shore excursions?

[KristiFree]

I want to use Coral Breeze on our snorkeling excursion while we are in Belize.

We are in Belize from approx. 8am until 5pm and the last tender is at 4:15 back to the ship (Carnival Elation)!

The website says that this tour is 5 hrs long starting at 9 and we have plenty of time once we are done to get back in time for that last tender. Is this true? Has anyone booked thru them instead of Carnival's?

It is cheaper, yet I sure don't want to miss the ship as this is the last port of call before we return home!

 

Can anyone tell me their experience with Coral Breeze? thanks so much...

[like2cruise]

I have booked this excursion about a year ago and I have had friends booked it more recently with them as well. With our group, they had asked everyone what time the ship wanted them to be back and adjusted the time accordingly. We had time to shop at the pier afterwards. I have not heard of anyone having difficulty getting back in time. Paul wass wonderful to work with and emailed me instantly regarding any concerns or questions I had. Hope that helps!

[KristiFree]

:) Thank you so much! yes, that info helps tremendously!

[Carnival Queen]

I want to use Coral Breeze on our snorkeling excursion while we are in Belize.

We are in Belize from approx. 8am until 5pm and the last tender is at 4:15 back to the ship (Carnival Elation)!

The website says that this tour is 5 hrs long starting at 9 and we have plenty of time once we are done to get back in time for that last tender. Is this true? Has anyone booked thru them instead of Carnival's?

It is cheaper, yet I sure don't want to miss the ship as this is the last port of call before we return home!

 

Can anyone tell me their experience with Coral Breeze? thanks so much...

 

We booked with them for the Shark/Ray Alley tour - on the Miracle sailing 2/13. I read a lot of reviews on these boards and decided to book. I, too, e-mailed Paul with many questions, and he was great! Answered every question I had very promptly. Some others on our ship have booked it too - and you get a discount if you book at least 30 days in advance. I'll let you know when we get back, but I'm expecting a great excursion . . .:)

[Marcys]

If you read back from August through the fall, there were many, many problems with Coral Breeze...time, overcrowding, and safety issues. Haven't heard much about them either way lately. All I can say is despite our constant concerns expressed to our guides in August, we got back to the tender dock with only 20 minutes to spare. Much to close for me!

[KristiFree]

Yikes...20 mins is really too close? Does anyone else have a review/comment from a past experience (recent) with Coral Breeze?

[lisaland15]

We also got back late--about 45 mins. We ended not having time to shop, and just tendered back to the ship.

[Carnival Queen]

Yikes...20 mins is really too close? Does anyone else have a review/comment from a past experience (recent) with Coral Breeze?

 

There was apparently a problem with a few issues a while back - all the recent postings I've seen have been great. You can e-mail them directly from their website - Paul will answer any questions or concerns you may have. I just read a recent long review from someone who just came back - forget which board it was on though . . .:) August is a long time ago . . .

[Carnival Queen]

Yikes...20 mins is really too close? Does anyone else have a review/comment from a past experience (recent) with Coral Breeze?

 

I found it - it's on this same board - is on page 2 now, but by the time you read this, it could be further back - look for the heading "Shark/Ray Alley with Coral Breeze" - they just got back and gave a great review - hope this helps . . .

[lisaland15]

Yes, August was a while ago, but December wasn't...

 

You can read another thread here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=106526

 

Yes, Paul was great about answering questions before the tour...but we had some issues after the tour, and we never heard from him then. :confused:

 

I'm not saying what to do, but like anything, there are two sides to every coin.

[Marcys]

August was not such a long time ago. What's important is the the trend of poor or spotty service that's occurred since that time. This OP requested information to make an INFORMED decision, to discount this info would be a diservice.

[KristiFree]

Thanks everyone for your help/info. I guess I should just spend the extra $20 and have peace of mind that the carnival excursions will be safe so that we are not late for the ship leaving! I would hate to be stuck in Belize as our ship is heading back to the states! yikes!

[zydecocruiser]

Not sure about May sailings, but one thing that moght put a damper on that:

 

Shark / Ray Alley Snorkel Are you ready to snorkel at the site Skin Diver magazine called one of the 7 best animal dives in the Caribbean? *NOTE: THIS EXCURSION IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE*

[Lisa766]

I just did this excursion on 2/1 and it was awesome and they got us back in plenty of time.

[Kathy1NC]

We just got back from cruising the Carnival Glory last week Jan29-Feb5. We used Coral Breeze in Beize for the Shark Ray Alley tour. It was cheaper than Carnival if you book 30 days out. We had a great time and would use them again. No problems here.

[Lisa766]

Hey Kathy,

 

 

I want to go back on the cruise!!! I tried to talk Danielle into it but she said only if I pay for it. Came back to cold and snow! It sucks!!!

[Hflors]

We booked with Coral Breeze for our Jan 2 NCL Sun cruise. It started out great. They met us promptly, but it went down hill from there. The "guide" guided us to wet-&-wild who "guided us to a driver in a van. For the next hour and ten minutes we drove out into the "country". Then we walked for another thirty minutes. Now comes the best part. We get into the river and the current wisks us down it into a dark cave. And I mean dark. Well my husband gets hung up further up stream. I keep trying to paddle back to see if there is a problem. That's when it hits me. It is so dark you can't see anything and I mean anything! The little miners flashlight on my head isn't enough light to see your hand in front of your face unless you put it right up to it. WEll I keep paddling back up stream and yelling his name, finally we meet up together and I grab him for dear life. The "Guide" is no where in sight (even if the two miners flashlights worked I'm not sure we would have been able to see anything). Anyway we at least are floating together! That's when we crash into a rock-bar (it would be a sandbar, but it was all rocks) We have to stand up and almost bend over so our flashlights will light up the rocks and walk over the bar carrying our innertubes. We get over the rock bar and get back into the water which is still dark. Finally we exit the cave where our "guide" pulls us out of the water.

 

I'm not sure if I was more mad or scared that we were left alone in a dark cave to fend for ourselves. I'm grateful that there wasn't any accidents to either one of us because I don't know what we would have done. Anyway we did eat lunch pile back into the van and head back to belize. When the van dropped us off we didn't stop anywhere, luckily a tender was loading up and we got on it pronto.

 

I E-mailed Paul. He told me he was sorry for what had happened. And I told him he needed to inform people who book through him that they may not necessily be going with either him or wet-& wild. That they may be put with some van driver from who knows where. If I were going again I would DEFFINATELY GO WITH THE SHIPS TOURS! I don't usually do ship's tours, but this tour is a good distance from anywhere and anything can happen.

 

I'm just thankful everything turned out fine for us.

Anyway what ever you do have a great cruise!

[DiverDavid]

Based on the positive reviews on this board during the summer and fall, we booked with Coral Breezes. Unfortunately, the negative reviews towards the end of the year changed our minds. The excursion is 5 hours long and we just did not want to risk spending it unhappy. We e-mailed our cancellation which was promptly responded to and a refund check was received about 3 weeks later.

[irontree]

My Wife And I And 2 Friends Were On The Valor On Jan 23/05/western

We Booked With Coral Breeze For Our Belize Stop I Had Heard Good And Bad Reviews But It Is The Same For Many Operaters So I Decided To Go And Review For Myself. I Will Tell Any And All You Are In An Underdeveloped Third World Country That Is Relying On Our Tourist Dollarts To Get Ahead, They Realy Do Try To Make Your Days Experience As Good As Possible They Did Ours.

 

Imagine Snokeling With Nurse Sharks And Seeing Our Guide Hand Feed Them And The Rays It Was Owsome Then Snorkeling Through A Corl Garden That Has Been Stked Out So You Do Not Harm The Coral They Realy Do Care . We Are In Our 50 And We Think We Recived More Than We Expected. The Lunch Sure Tasted Great After That Experience We Did Not Expect Cordon Blu But The Chicken And Rice The Locals Were Eating Was Good With The Cold Beer And The Relaxing Time On The Beutiful Beach Was Great.

 

They Got Us Back In Time To Buy Some T- Shirts And Would Recomend Them To All

 

Hope Your Experienc Will Be As Good As Ours

[Al_Frescoe]

My Wife And I And 2 Friends Were On The Valor On Jan 23/05/western

We Booked With Coral Breeze For Our Belize Stop I Had Heard Good And Bad Reviews But It Is The Same For Many Operaters So I Decided To Go And Review For Myself. I Will Tell Any And All You Are In An Underdeveloped Third World Country That Is Relying On Our Tourist Dollarts To Get Ahead, They Realy Do Try To Make Your Days Experience As Good As Possible They Did Ours.

 

Imagine Snokeling With Nurse Sharks And Seeing Our Guide Hand Feed Them And The Rays It Was Owsome Then Snorkeling Through A Corl Garden That Has Been Stked Out So You Do Not Harm The Coral They Realy Do Care . We Are In Our 50 And We Think We Recived More Than We Expected. The Lunch Sure Tasted Great After That Experience We Did Not Expect Cordon Blu But The Chicken And Rice The Locals Were Eating Was Good With The Cold Beer And The Relaxing Time On The Beutiful Beach Was Great.

 

They Got Us Back In Time To Buy Some T- Shirts And Would Recomend Them To All

 

Hope Your Experienc Will Be As Good As Ours

 

I Have Never In All Of My Years On Message Boards Dating Back To The Early 80's Seen Anyone Capitalize Ever Word. Good On Ya Amigo. :D

 

SHILL ALERT

 

Only My Opinion, Of Course

[KristiFree]

Does anyone have the email for Paul @ Coral Breeze?

[zydecocruiser]

Does anyone have the email for Paul @ Coral Breeze?

 

I've always sent to:

info@coralbreezelimited.com

 

And Paul has replied from:

inforequest@coralbreezelimited.com

 

Probably either one will work.

[Carnival Queen]

Does anyone have the email for Paul @ Coral Breeze?

 

I just got an e-mail from them today confirming our Shark/Ray Alley excursion in Belize next Friday, 2/18. It came from:

 

info@coralbreezelimited.com

 

Good Luck!

[rasta]

I am still very confused about ships time (i.e. Eastern Time) and island time which can be either 1 or 2 hours behind depending on the time of year? For a March 15 arrival what is the time difference and are all of the non-ship tours using island time?

[JessicaO]

If you are arriving March 15, Belize will be on central time. After daylight savings (april 2) Belize will be an hour behind central time.