Belize

[poohbear]

Let me go ahead and say, i know,go to port of call boards. I have been there and still haven't found anything. I am looking for something to do with a 6 year old when we are in Belize. I keep reading Bannister Island, well know I am reading it is not open for CCL ships only Royal Carib. and one other line. So what to do beside cave tubing. I really am just not that excited about this port of call, thinking we might just stay on the ship. Thanks in advance for the help!

[crewsweeper]

You can try to take a water taxi to Caye Caulker...or see if CCL is offering a trip to Goff's Caye (which is smaller than Bannister Island and had part ial erosion from the recent storms). don't get the idea that these are similar baches to those in Grand Cayman or Cozumel or the Eastern Caribbean. They are not.

 

For othe rideas, there's also the Pilot Your Own River Boat excursion, which can be fun. But the most popular excursions here are cave-tubing and Mayan ruins followed by off shore snorkeling, which BTW is excellent, but there could be age restrictions. If none of these fit your bill, then you're stuck with just going ashore to the Tourism Village. While many don't recommend wandering around Belize City because you'll get hassled by vendors otuside the TV, that's not a reason to not go see the town. Its very safe to walk around in once past the gates of the TV. But Belize City is a working city, not a tourist destination city, and for a 6 year (and adults too) it can be a pretty boring walkabout. So you might entertain just staying on board ship, not necessarily a bad thing.

[Irishlinny]

Bannister Island would be a very good fit for you both. Although Carnival excursions will no longer go there, you may be able to find another independent excursion which does. I had been booked to do a snorkel/beach break there with Ecotours (and you could just do the beach if you wanted). It was cancelled because Bannister Island was hit by a hurricane...they switched it to Goff's Cay (which is tiny with no real facilities). You may want to check with them to see if they think Bannister will be back on their list by the time you sail.

Coral Breeze is another company we have used and have been happy with...if you look them up online, maybe you will find something. I belienve there is a zoo in Belize as well...don't know anything about it though.

[golfadj]

Never been there but there is a zoo in Belize which might be nice for a youngster to do.

[jtdlmc]

We are trying to decide between Goff's Caye (Island Marketing), Caye Caulker or the Belize Zoo (Coral Breezes) and I just read about a howler monkey reserve on a recent review and that tour is done through experiencebelize I think? Any of those would be appropriate and fun for a 6 year old.

[misstopgun]

Let me go ahead and say, i know,go to port of call boards. I have been there and still haven't found anything. I am looking for something to do with a 6 year old when we are in Belize. I keep reading Bannister Island, well know I am reading it is not open for CCL ships only Royal Carib. and one other line. So what to do beside cave tubing. I really am just not that excited about this port of call, thinking we might just stay on the ship. Thanks in advance for the help!

I have a travel agent in Belize that could probably find you a great excursions.

Visit discoveringbelize.com and get with Alex. He has planned cruise excursions for as well as land vacations. We have never been disappointed.

[erinmarie424]

We did the River Wallace/Altun Ha excursion and there were a few children about your son's age on it - and they seemed to be enjoyig themselves.

[poohbear]

Thanks so much for the quick replies! Now time to look up all the ideas. It's amazing how I am so worried about our excursions and the cruise is so far off!

[lcbandt]

 

For othe rideas, there's also the Pilot Your Own River Boat excursion, which can be fun. But the most popular excursions here are cave-tubing and Mayan ruins followed by off shore snorkeling, which BTW is excellent, but there could be age restrictions.

 

I've been trying to decide between Mayan ruins and snorkeling when we're in Belize - an excursion that does both would be WONDERFUL! Can you tell me who offers this? I haven't seen it anywhere and it would be perfect! Or did you just mean off-shore snorkeling was another popular one aside from the ruins? :)

[crewsweeper]

Never been there but there is a zoo in Belize which might be nice for a youngster to do.

The Belize zoo is more like a nature preserve thn a typical zoo. It's really a collection of orphaned/donated wild animals, over a 100 different animals, all native to Belize. The zoo is outside the city limits about an hour away from the Tourism Village where the tenders dock and a tour takes about 2 hours, you walk the entire time. It's been closed due to storm damage, but I believe it's reopening in December.

[Relayer]

You can definitely book the Bannister trip at the pier. We did so last year. Our trip included 2 hours of snorkeling, 4 hours at the beach and lunch for $45 per person.

[Suntanz]

When we docked in Belize, we stayed on the ship with the kids & it was great. We had ship to ourselves. Kids loved going up & down the slides & into the pool. We also played mini golf & had a good lunch.

The Dream had 3 other ports of call that we enjoyed, so the day on the ship in Belize was real nice.

[sb4ever]

Just off Valor. My daughter is 5 and we went as "ride alongs" to the Bacab Eco Park. They have a huge, beautiful pool (not salt water) and she splashed around that all morning. We pretty much had the whole pool to ourselves until the excursions (horseback riding, kayak and mountain biking) got back. They do have nature trails but they were closed off due to lots of rain.

[evandbob]

I've been trying to decide between Mayan ruins and snorkeling when we're in Belize - an excursion that does both would be WONDERFUL! Can you tell me who offers this? I haven't seen it anywhere and it would be perfect! Or did you just mean off-shore snorkeling was another popular one aside from the ruins? :)

 

 

Consider the two tours as seperate entities, there really isn't enough time to do both snorkeling AND visit ruins in the same day and still make it back to the ship.

[wheresmypopcorn]

I have never been on a cruise before but I went to Belize in May and loved it. We stayed on San Pedro, Amberguise Caye. The Belize Zoo was like no place I have ever been. The animals are all native to Belize and when I was there I saw many children - a lot of children from schools in Belize seemed to be there on field trips. We had a private tour guide for the zoo so were able to take our time and enjoy it. It seemed as if the people who were on cruise excursions were being rushed through by their tour guide but I still think it would be something very memorable for a child. Since I didn't go with a tour, I don't know how you get to the zoo but another trip we took was to Lamanai and the river boat there was very nice with manatees in the river and monkeys that got on board our boat. The tour guide for that trip was local as well and I don't know if the monkeys would get on board the cruise ships boats. Lamanai required a lot of walking and was really hot at some points I was hot and wished it would end - but in the end I am so glad I went. Hope this is helpful.

[wheresmypopcorn]

I've been trying to decide between Mayan ruins and snorkeling when we're in Belize - an excursion that does both would be WONDERFUL! Can you tell me who offers this? I haven't seen it anywhere and it would be perfect! Or did you just mean off-shore snorkeling was another popular one aside from the ruins? :)

 

If you have seen one Mayan ruins... they are very similar (In my opinion). Snorkeling in Belize is AMAZING!!!!!

[larkz]

I have never been on a cruise before but I went to Belize in May and loved it. We stayed on San Pedro, Amberguise Caye. The Belize Zoo was like no place I have ever been. The animals are all native to Belize and when I was there I saw many children - a lot of children from schools in Belize seemed to be there on field trips. We had a private tour guide for the zoo so were able to take our time and enjoy it. It seemed as if the people who were on cruise excursions were being rushed through by their tour guide but I still think it would be something very memorable for a child. Since I didn't go with a tour, I don't know how you get to the zoo but another trip we took was to Lamanai and the river boat there was very nice with manatees in the river and monkeys that got on board our boat. The tour guide for that trip was local as well and I don't know if the monkeys would get on board the cruise ships boats. Lamanai required a lot of walking and was really hot at some points I was hot and wished it would end - but in the end I am so glad I went. Hope this is helpful.

 

I recently took Tropic Air from the Belize City Municipal Airstrip to San Pedro Island and it was the most fun I've ever had on an excursion (the flight was $67 round trip for adults, not sure about child fees). Water taxis to San Pedro are somewhat less expensive, but I didn't feel like taking another round trip boat ride to get to and from the island after tendering in from the Dream. The cab ride from the dock to the airstrip was $5. In San Pedro, the town and activities are just outside the airport, and if you don't feel like walking you can rent golf carts — although wandering around on foot seemed a lot more fun to me.

 

I spent the day at the small island town taking in the sites, visiting with people, kayaking, and hanging out on the beach and photographing nature. It's a friendly town, quite a bit safer than Belize city. You can see lots of video on YouTube. Various tours are available on the island. The setting is relaxed, and you can go at your own pace. Flights and water taxi rides between the island and mainland are very frequent, hourly if I recall.

 

I have not been to Belize City Zoo, but that was the alternate plan if I couldn't make it to the island. The website for the zoo is http://www.belizezoo.org and this facility has received fairly high ratings in various reviews. Its a bit of a drive to get there and back, so transportation is going to use up a chunk of your day. This is true for many of the excursions, whether you select one of Carnival's or take your own — many of the activities require an hour or more of travel time. If you're designing your own adventure, it pays to get your tender ticket early.

[Disconnections]

We did the Cave Ziplining in Belize and it was great. Make sure you book an excursion with Carnival in Belize as it is not that safe.

 

Big Tex stressed everyone on the ship to not to leave the port gates as it is extremely dangerous there.

[poohbear]

Thanks everyone for all the ideas, still not sure what we will do but now have a list of ideas. If CCL is warning guests that is not safe outside the gates of the port then why are they stopping there to begin with?

[jtdlmc]

Big Tex stressed everyone on the ship to not to leave the port gates as it is extremely dangerous there.

 

I don't think it is "dangerous" there. I have read lots of reviews where people have gone outside the gates by themselves and toured the area and not run into any problems. I gather that the outside vendors are very pushy and try to get anyone who walks out to go on their tours - nothing too dangerous - happens everywhere.

[crewsweeper]

I've been trying to decide between Mayan ruins and snorkeling when we're in Belize - an excursion that does both would be WONDERFUL! Can you tell me who offers this? I haven't seen it anywhere and it would be perfect! Or did you just mean off-shore snorkeling was another popular one aside from the ruins? :)

 

You can definitely book the Bannister trip at the pier. We did so last year. Our trip included 2 hours of snorkeling, 4 hours at the beach and lunch for $45 per person.

 

Consider the two tours as seperate entities, there really isn't enough time to do both snorkeling AND visit ruins in the same day and still make it back to the ship.

 

icbandt...as evanbob points out, you can't do both. The listing in my post is simply the order of popularity. Relayer, what you did last year may not be available now after the hurricanes in October. Bannister Island has had some major erosion damage and was at the time of the hurricane going through some reorganization/ownership and alignment with vendors. CCL dropped their attachment. So not all vendors can go there, and the island may not be open to all ships/vendors or even on all days ships are in port. So waiting until arrival at the tender pier could lead to disappointment. The situation is fluid so this can change.

[riedela]

Nice place to visit, but there isn't anything for a child to do there (nothing I saw or heard of). Very tiny island.

 

Have a great time!

[2old4this]

We did the Cave Ziplining in Belize and it was great. Make sure you book an excursion with Carnival in Belize as it is not that safe.

 

Big Tex stressed everyone on the ship to not to leave the port gates as it is extremely dangerous there.

 

I will be doing the Belize canopy ziplining and rappelling on January 9 which I assume is the same one you call the Cave Ziplining. More important is my interest in simply ziplining since I have not done this before. What would you suggest I prepare for in shoes, clothes, repellent, etc? Would you respond to me at morrisjac@gmail.com please? Jack Morris

[cruzeluver]

Big Tex stressed everyone on the ship to not to leave the port gates as it is extremely dangerous there.

 

Ugh.

 

Big Tex and all the other CD's always state that, and it is lees than honest. They want you booking ship-sponsored excursions and shopping at their "approved" stores (from which they receive kick-backs). That is the reason for the "warning".

 

We have walked around Belize City on two separate cruises and had a wonderful experience both times.

[scuba214]

Ugh.

 

Big Tex and all the other CD's always state that, and it is lees than honest. They want you booking ship-sponsored excursions and shopping at their "approved" stores (from which they receive kick-backs). That is the reason for the "warning".

 

We have walked around Belize City on two separate cruises and had a wonderful experience both times.

 

I agree! We walked through part of Belize City to meet our tour guide. Everyone we encountered was very helpful in pointing us in the right direction.