Cave Tubing Review

[BCLINE3155]

In late January we were in Belize and did the Cave Tubing with Marvin (Wet 'n Wild). It was terrific ... and Marvin was very accomodating. Our reservation was for 9:00 a.m. But ... tendering in is a problem ... and the first ones off the ship were those with excursions booked thru the cruise line. We even had VIP passes ... and we still could not get on an earlier tender. Needless to say ... we did not arrive at Marvin's until about 9:45 a.m. and our tour was gone. "Not to worry", Marvin said. Come back at 10:30 and we will have another tour for you. Well, Marvin found us having breakfast at 10:15 and said "Ready to go?" And off we went. We had a fantastic tour guide ... and there was a total of 10 persons in our group. The van ride seemed very short ... and the guide had a lot of information to share and would answer any question you had. Once we got there, it was no time and we were ready for the walk to the river. Again, the 1.5 mile walked was so easy ... and seemed to go by very quickly. We all wore water shoes, and the walk was very comfortable!! The tubing was fantastic ... and something I will always remember. The water was a bit chilly ... but who cares ... I was not home in the snow and cold!! The lunch at Amigos was great!! Even our 2 teenagers loved the food!!!

 

I would recommend Marvin and Wet 'n Wild for any excursion. He is an honest person, replies to emails quickly, and does everything he can to make your tour special.

 

If you have any other questions, please let me know!!

 

BARB

[joyride]

Hi Barb. We will be on the Coral Princess in April and have booked with Wet N Wild. I was just wondering what ship you were on where you did not get to shore on time?

[patti917]

Glad you had a good time Barb. I have already made my reservation with Marvin and am really looking forward to it. My only question is what time did your boat leave Belize? We depart at 5:00, and I'm a little concerned about making our last tender, especially if we don't get started til 10:30. What time did you make back?

Thanks!

[chefdeedee]

We were on the grand princess - in February - three people were left behind in Belize - did not make it back to the ship in time - we booked thru the ship for Cave tubing - not a good choice - next time will snorkel or scuba

 

 

 

Dear Friends here are some tips

 

Went Cave tubing with Princess - We went with the ship due to the fact that we were on a limited time frame. There were 500 people on the tour - 5 bus loads - never saw a snake.

 

Positives -

Cool experience to walk thru an actual rain forest - it was pouring rain -

The caves were neat to see, l (water was cool) - water was crystal clear.

 

Negatives

 

Our head lamps were not "bright enough" to actually see the formations in the caves.

 

The changing room "lockers" are little thatched huts with no security - if you don't want to lose it - don't bring it -

 

The bathrooms are not adequate to accomodate the amount of people on the tours - they stopped working when we were there.

 

The life vests you have to wear stink of mold and mildew :( - you will stink like those vests the whole time, and will be anxious to wash your clothes when you get back to the ship.

 

Most people on the tour were chilled to the bone before we ever got into the rivers - because it was raining cats and dogs and they weren't dressed properly.

 

Water was on the very cool side - good thing we wore "dive skins" to retain body temperature - hubby and I were the only ones "warm".

 

Could not hear the tour guide - there were so many people screaming - could not learn a thing.

 

The bus ride - The bus driver drove off the road at 70 mph to pass a house being moved on the road - yup - I said it - a house - We thought the bus was gonna tip over - we were terrified.

 

Would I do it again - no way - not worth 99.00 - glad I did it - yes - I can say I did it once.

[ShowSkiMom]

Glad you had a good time Barb. I have already made my reservation with Marvin and am really looking forward to it. My only question is what time did your boat leave Belize? We depart at 5:00, and I'm a little concerned about making our last tender, especially if we don't get started til 10:30. What time did you make back?

Thanks!

 

Patti, I was worried about this too. I had originally booked the cave tubing with marvin but was so worried about making it back in time to catch the last tender that I cancelled. We're on the Miracle sailing May 29th. We are scheduled to arrive in Belize at 7:30 am which would be 5:30 Belize time since it is after Daylight's Savings time. The tour leaves at 8:30 (10:30 ship time) and gets back between 1:30 and 2:00 (3:30 - 4:00 ship time). My ship is scheduled to depart at 4:30 and if the last tender leaves at 4:00 I'd be cutting it really close. Marvin has been very nice and patient with answering all of my questions and it's not that I don't trust him when he say's I'll get back in time, but I know I would worry the entire time and not enjoy myself. If you're departing at 5:00 and you're sailing before the time change you should be fine. It also depends on where you depart. As I understand it, your ship stays on the same time as your departure port.

[lois2]

I don't understand why the ships can't stay in port longer. The distance between Costa Maya and Belize and Cozumel is not very far! Surely they could stay in port longer so people would not have to worry so much during the excursions. Does anyone understand why they must leave at 4 or 5pm?:confused:

[restes]

I agree that the ships don't stay in Belize long enough. I don't know what the rush is either.

 

We went cave tubing with Wet & Wild earlier this week (Monday, March 14) and I couldn't believe it when they didn't cancel the excursion when we arrived more than an hour past our scheduled meeting time. Their strategy was simple though. As long as we stayed ahead of the masses of tour buses from the ship's tour, we were o.k. We passed the ship's tour buses on the highway and never saw them again. Their were only 6 people in our group with Wet & Wild, there were 40 in the ship's tour group. We were back on the ship over 30 minutes before the ship's tour group.