Cave Tubing Poll

[Captain Carnival]

Which of the following cave tubing options do you prefer and why?

[tiggerlover]

BUTTS UP & BELIZE IT OR NOT! will soon be part of your vocabulary if you book with Yhonny & the boys at cave-tubing.com. I can't say enough good things about this excursion as we have done it twice and will definitely be doing it again many times in the future. I have NO negatives but MANY positives: price (less than half of what the cruise line charged), courtesy extended to us (they carried our tubes AND my MIL! lol), knowledgeable & friendly staff (showed us various plants, insects, & rock formations along the way and entertained us on the bus),safety (head lamps, life jackets and tubes provided), etc. We had a wonderful time with them and still smile and joke with each other about this excursion. We never felt a moments apprehension with these guys and relaxed for a wonderful day of cave tubing & atving. I consider them old friends and look forward to our next visit. Can't wait! :D

[Molly BPOE]

I did not take the poll as I have not traveled there yet. But am happy to read the response as we are also thinking about the cave tubing excursion in Belize :)

[nobody000]

Its hard to say because we had such a good experience with cavetubing.com...but our last time there the tenders where so messed up that we missed doing it thru them and my friend who had never done it before was pretty bummed. So that has kinda influenced us to try it thru CCL next time. They had just started offering it again right before we left. But either way as long as you do it, its worht it either way. :D

[tisabee]

Just got off the Dream and cavetubed/ziplined with Major Tom. They were nice people, lots of fun, just not very organized at all. My husband was majorly disappointed.

[julianne74]

Just got off the Dream and cavetubed/ziplined with Major Tom. They were nice people, lots of fun, just not very organized at all. My husband was majorly disappointed.

 

I have to agree. I have only done Major Tom's cave tubing, but I agree that it was pretty disorganized at times. It was less expensive than booking through Carnival and I felt like we had more supervision.... but I think that we had too many people (I think we had 6 full vans worth) and there was a lot of sitting around and waiting. We also were so pressed for time that we didn't get the lunch part.

 

Although the not having the lunch part ended up being a good thing since some other tour groups DID have the lunch and they got sick from it.

 

So, I'm glad I did it. And it's the same caves and stuff. So if you can get it for less than $80 or whatever it's going for then I don't think it matters who you book with.

[Captain Carnival]

Thus far it's a virtual tie and doesn't appear that anyone will "win" per se.

 

Have you voted yet? :confused:

[NewYorkDenise]

Hi

 

I'll be in Belize in less than 3 weeks and researched cave tubing. I really want to do it, but after reading that you have to link holding onto someone's feet, I was turned off. I don't want to do that w/a stranger. :eek:

[jcross2]

Have done the cave tubing twice in Belize, once with Major Tom and once on a Princess-sponsored excursion.

 

Night and day!

 

Loved the Major Tom trip, our second tubing trip. Felt very safe and all went like clockwork, including a nice lunch at a lovely outdoor cafe. (I think some people, in other reviews, who felt rushed may have been trying to zipline as well as tube on the same day; I'd recommend sticking with one or the other, jmho)

 

The Princess excursion (our first time in Belize) was downright scary. Did both the ziplining and tubing. Water was too high & fast for tubing that day; they really should have canceled. No one stayed together, no guides were checking on us AT ALL. Headlamps were too dim, currents too strong, and no guidance given about places to avoid in the cave. When the water is high like that, there are dangerous areas near the walls where people have drowned. Not a word was said.

 

However: On Major Tom's excursion, we had several guides with our small group, and they knew where each of us was at all times. In some parts, we hooked our tubes up together and were escorted by guides.

 

By the way, Denise, we didn't hang on to each others' feet, but simply hooked our toes under the tube of the next person, not really touching them personally. Don't know if everyone does it this way, though.

 

Ziplining on ship's excursion was even worse. Instructions were shouted down a hill to over 100 pax in a long line; couldn't hear a thing. Platforms were rickety. One woman was sent to hospital after being slammed in the back by the next person's feet (her husband!) because they let him go too soon, before she was unhooked from the line at the next platform. She was knocked off the platform, and luckily there was another one ten feet below her!! Still a very bad fall.

 

(I had ziplined before in Puerto Vallarta, which was wonderful, and safe, so I did have a basis for comparison.)

 

I have no idea whether Carnival uses the same outfit Princess did, but they are owned by the same company, right?

 

Anyway, my recommendation is to go with Major Tom, and to opt for just the cave tubing. That is unique to Belize, while you can zipline almost anywhere.

 

Trying to do both in one day really rushes things, I think!

 

Just my two cents ...

[Captain Carnival]

Today (6/26) is the last day to vote!

[Captain Carnival]

At the onset of this poll I suspected that cave-tubing.com may have prevailed (based on previous reviews) and that Major/Minor Tom may not have done as well (based on previous reviews and comments left on this thread).

 

 

Of course this is/was not a very scientific poll so the data cannot be supported by independent means but it was fun nevertheless!

 

Now the tough question....Which one shall I book?? :confused: :eek:

[bandit68]

I have to agree with some of the other posts, Major Tom was extreamly unorganized. In spite of them we still had a great time cave-tubing and zipline, I highly recommend doing this trip, but not with Major Tom.

 

Some of the issues we encountered were that we found that we were waiting in the van, waiting for our guide(s), waiting at stores, waiting for them to decide which guide was doing what, etc. etc. Then time got so short we had to jog the trail to the cave, no time to take in the sites.

 

When we were getting ready to leave we questioned Minor Tom about lunch we pre paid for. He told us it was too late we should have told him earlier.... then he continued to mumble something like dumb-a** as we were leaving.

[Captain Carnival]

Despite the numbers, I have opted to go with cave-tubing.com chiefly due to the more than adequate reviews that they have received. Besides, they offer a FREE lunch now through July!