Which tour for Cave Tubing?

[bearette]

I am in search of a cave tubing tour in Belize. I have seen several offerings , but not all the information about them. I want to know which tour guide/company you used, how much it was, if they offered discounts for anything (larger group etc...) if they met you at the pier, if not how much did it cost you to get a taxi to get to them, what time and how long was the excursion (I will be on the Eplorer of the Sea and they're in Belize from 9am until 6pm), what exactly was included and most importantly if you enjoyed the tour and would do it again? Thank you for answering all my questions. I saw so many tour operators I just want to see which will be the best fit for my group.

[cruisinhs]

We used Wet n Wild Cave Tubing, which is run by Marvin. We had Charlie as our guide and he was amazing! He had a college degree as an environmentalist and he was definately at home in the rain forrest. He was incredibly knowledgable about the native plants, etc. You could just tell how much he loves his job. I am not sure about discounts for large groups, but you can email Marvin directly at cavetubing@yahoo.com and he usually answers quickly with any information you could need. The excursion was $60 per person. He met us immediately as we walked off the tender. He took us just around the corner to his business where we paid and met up with our group and guide. There were only 8 of us with our guide which was perfect. We rode in a really nice 15 passenger van to the river. Our guide talked and answered questions during the entire drive, which was very interesting. I believe we were gone from 9:30 am until 3:15 pm.

We tubed through three caves and the trip also included a delicious lunch at a local restaurant. I would definately recommend them if this sounds like it would fit your needs. We had an awesome time!

[Cruisemaiden]

I recently booked a cave tubing tour with Wet-N-Wild. I have heard so many good posts regarding Marvin and the over all experience, I decided to give it a try. We will be in Belize on April 21, 2005.

First, I emailed Marvin at cavetubing@yahoo.com and he quickly mailed me back answering all my questions. You can go to their website at

www.ecotoursbelize.com/cavetubing.html and place your deposit, 20% down is required. The cost is $60 US dollars for the tour and that will include lunch.

Once you pay for your deposit, they will send you a confirmation letter with all the info you will need for your cave tubing experinece. You will need to print out the confirmation they send you and take it with you when you meet Marvin at the port.

It was all very easy so far....so I am expecting a great tour!

[radtech]

Is there anybody out there that has been on the children's x-treme cave tubing? We are looking too book this for July 05 as my nephews are 6 and 10 years old. If there is anybody out there can you also recommend who do book this though? Thanks :)

 

Radtech :D

[snookhaven]

We've booked a cave tube trip with Marvin for late March and we have four granddaughters ages 10, 10, 8, and almost 7. Marvin said No Problem. They are all good swimmers and they will put life vests on them I think. :)

[MSU2TSU]

i tried to book them last week for a June 9th date & they were all booked for that date...if you are interested, email them soon!:(

[Hflors]

Good luck on your tour. I did the cave tubing in Jan 05 while I was on the NCL SUN. Booked with Coral Breeze. I have E-mailed Paul about the trip and told him that HE, Coral Breeze, and Wet-&-Wild both need to tell their customers that they are one and the same. Our tour with Coral Breeze was turned over to Wet-&-Wild who turned us over to a van driver who did get us there and did bring us back, but as a guide he left a lot to be desired.

 

I know a lot of people do these tours independently, but if I do it again it will be difinately throught the ship's tour. Reason" The drive to the river takes over an hour then about twenty to thirty minutes to walk from the parking lot. In our case the "guide" got on his tube and went down the river leaving us along in a dark cave. (That was not fun) then at the end of the tubing it's another twenty to thirty minute walk and another hour drive back. The country side is desolate. ANything can happen. I'm thankful that nothing did on our tour, but I wouldn't want to push my luck too far.

 

Anyway what ever you decide have a good trip.

[weechloe]

I am a little hesitant to book privately the cave tubing for the same reason.

What if you are too late to get back to port. Any info would be appreciated.

[alleghator]

I mean, what if the ship can't come into port that day for whatever reason? Do these private companies refund your money?

 

--Heidi

[Lisa&Neb]

I mean, what if the ship can't come into port that day for whatever reason? Do these private companies refund your money?

 

--Heidi

 

if you read their info, if you do not get into port, full refund. (at least x-stream)

[cruisinhs]

You will get your money back from Wet n Wild too if your ship cancels. In fact, I read a post just recently where someone booked with Wet n Wild and their ship cancelled and they posted that their money was returned.

[mbisson]

I mean, what if the ship can't come into port that day for whatever reason? Do these private companies refund your money?

 

--Heidi

 

That's always one of the questions I ask before booking any nonship excursion.

 

-Monte

[lois2]

We went last Wednesday with Yhoney and you don't pay ($45) untill after the excursion. We had Eloy as a guide (group of 8) and he was wonderful!

[Dojomo]

For those who are hesitant about booking with private companies, let me say that after my experience last week on the Valor I will always book with private companies. We had 4 ports of calls and I booked private tours at 3. I used Wet-n-Wild in Belize and could not be more pleased with Marvin and our tour guide Charlie. Our group consisted of 5 couples and Charlie took us through 4 caves. Friends who booked with Carnival were in a group of 100 and did only 3 caves. They did not get the option of jumping into the water either. They did not get all the insight about the country, rainforest and caves that we were afforded. No question about it, I will book with Marvin again in a heartbeat.

[Marcys]

Thanks for your review of the ports!

 

We have a group of 20 from a CC group cruise that will be going with Marvin for cave tubing. Since we fill a whole van, we'll be taking just us in that van.

 

Some of us (me) are a little concerned about making the tender on time. Unfortunately, last year Coral Breeze had a major lapse and got us back to the last tender with only 20 minutes to spare on the Shark/Ray alley tour. Much to close for me!

 

On another post you said there were contingencies...just in case. Do you know what they were? Also, I heard a lot of different time frames for the tour. Can you tell me how long the drive was, the walk to the entrance, the tubing, and lunch?

 

Thanks so much!

[interalia]

We had a near death experience with our cave tubing guide! I would not recommend it in Belize...for safety sake take the ships tour! Just for the cave tubing...i do not say that for all the tours...we felt very safe with Victor in Roatan...and Pete in Jamaica...and Grand Cayman. Our tour in Belize with our children was a threat to our safety.

[alleghator]

Who were you touring with? What was the difficulty?

 

--Heidi

[interalia]

Heidi,

Contact me directly i will be happy to share

[Marcys]

We had a near death experience with our cave tubing guide! I would not recommend it in Belize...for safety sake take the ships tour! Just for the cave tubing...i do not say that for all the tours...we felt very safe with Victor in Roatan...and Pete in Jamaica...and Grand Cayman. Our tour in Belize with our children was a threat to our safety.

 

Please let us know what happened so we can make an informed decision! How does the ship's tour make things safer?

[Dojomo]

After having just done the cave-tubing in Belize and finding it exceptional I am also curious who you toured with? I would contact you directly but I don't know how. Please let me know.

 

Doris

[mbisson]

Click on the posters name and an option will come up to view all their postings. You can find the tour operators name that way.

 

First negative I've seen about that particular operator. Wonder why they won't just say what went wrong?

 

-Monte

[Marcys]

Monte-I did that and I believe it was Reg tours. But, I'd still like to find out what happened to make an informed decision. Like you, I've never read anything negative which is why I'd like to know what COULD happen.

[interalia]

You may contact me directly as I offered at my e mail.

same name as posted here but @aol.

[LimeNoSalt]

Did anyone find out what the problem was with Interalias cave tubing?--

i would be interested to know but don't want to e-mail them because they are most likely getting a bunch of e-mail asking the same question.

a short quick explanition would be great for me....This is the first i have come across with a safety problem:confused:

thanks

[interalia]

No I dont mind e mailing you...I have been faithful to all that have. I told them everything. Please feel free. I have it all ready to send back :)