BELIZE--- CORAL BREEZE review

[pianolady1219]

We were in Belize 4 days ago. Took the Coral Breeze excursion.

The people assisting us in snorkeling were knowledgeable and very personable/helpful. The snorkeling was great as was our stop to "play" with the stingrays and nurse sharks. The island provided a gorgeous setting for lunch. Would love to visit there again.

 

Two concerns.....

 

We arrived well in advance of departure, remaining in the area where our tender docked and where we understood we'd be met. Coral Breeze was nowhere in sight. No signs.

Getting a bit panicky as 10am approached, a member of our group decided to walk quite a distance from where we'd waited...and there was Coral Breeze.

WHEW!!!

 

NCL Dream's last tender was scheduled for 3pm. We were assured repeatedly that we'd be back at least by 2:45pm. Didn't happen. Pulled in a minute or two before three and the six of us made a mad dash for our tender which was NOT close by.

We were the only ones from NCL. Others had 5pm departures. I wish they had been a bit more honest with us about return time. That was much tooo close. Beware...

[gburau]

Just a heads up. Your confirmation email tells you to meet with the Coral Breeze tour in front of the Wet Lizard Bar/Restaurant. I did not notice this at first either but when I emailed them to ask where to meet, they told me and told me to reference my confirmation email. They were right, it was on the confirmation email. The Wet Lizard is to the left of where you tender in...:)

[Carnival Queen]

Just a heads up. Your confirmation email tells you to meet with the Coral Breeze tour in front of the Wet Lizard Bar/Restaurant. I did not notice this at first either but when I emailed them to ask where to meet, they told me and told me to reference my confirmation email. They were right, it was on the confirmation email. The Wet Lizard is to the left of where you tender in...:)

 

We were on the same excursion on 2/18, and I must say, I have to agree more with gburau's review of a few days ago. I thought all of us on the boat (a nice small group of 15) were from Carnival Miracle - didn't realize there were people from NCL on there who had an earlier tender - wondering if the Coral Breeze folks knew that? :confused:

 

It seemed to me that we had plenty of time to get back - that's why they even extended our time at Caye Cauker to about 1-1/2 hours. I thought we were back by about 2:45 - our last tender was at 3:30 - we shopped for a little bit and got back on our tender at 3:00 to give ourselves time to get ready for our early dinner.

 

Thought the crew (Captain Mark, Hennie, James) was unbelievable - so helpful and knowledgeable - and really wanted everyone to have a great time. We had a good amount of time to snorkel at both sites. Wish we had seen more fish at Coral Garden, but swimming with the sharks and rays was great - got some great pictures back already.

 

Some people said they would have liked more time at Caye Caulker, but lunch and a walk around the island was fine for me - pretty quiet, but nice. I thought this was a great tour and way to see Belize, and I would definitely use Coral Breeze again. :)

[lilmsonry]

Carnival Queen, glad to read your post. We are booked with Coral Breeze on 9/8/05 and can't hardly wait. Were you ever nervous about not getting back on time?

[Carnival Queen]

Carnival Queen, glad to read your post. We are booked with Coral Breeze on 9/8/05 and can't hardly wait. Were you ever nervous about not getting back on time?

 

Not at all - it seemed like they knew exactly how much time to allow at each stop - we never even mentioned to them what time we had to be back - we knew our last tender was at 3:30 - it's a 5-hour tour that leaves at 8:30 Belize time on Fridays (9:30 ship time), so I figured we'd be back in plenty of time.

 

As I said, we even stayed a little longer at Caye Caulker since we had a small group and seemed to have plenty of time.

 

The crew was great - two of the owners (Mark and Monique) were on board - I think Monique stayed behind at Caye Caulker, and Paul the other partner is here in the Baltimore area - if you ever have any questions or concerns, just e-mail him - he's great.

 

You'll have a great time. So glad I went with the positive reviews from these posts (as opposed to a few negative ones) - it was so helpful and definitely worth it!!

[lilmsonry]

Thanks Carnival Queen! Yep, I spoke with Paul and he gets my vote all the way. Coral Breeze for me!!