Lamanai privatly, enough time?

[bklsmom]

We don't sail till Christmas day, but looking ahead for ideas. Our daughter, who lives in China, wants to see some mayan Ruins and reading the posts, it looks like Lamanai is the best. We always book private excursions, but was wondering if anyone has booked the Lamanai ruins privatly? The ruins are a far ride, first bus, then boat....worried about enough time making it back to last tender. I have read reviews and folks have said they loved it, but I would like to hear first hand from someone that has done this privatly. Thanks for any advise!

[bfam5]

How long is your ship in port?

 

We did Lamanai on 3/15 booked through a private tour broker (see this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1357618&page=2).

 

It is a 6 hour tour. You should also consider that it takes 20 minutes to get from the ship to the pier and unless you are booking through the ship, you probably will not get priority for the early tenders.

 

We had a blast and would definitely book this again.

[DaNana]

RCI gives out first tender tickets for anyone having tours, even private ones. When we were there recently a friend took this tour through RCI and loved it. She did say it was very long. Plenty of time to get back though, get the tender and back to the ship for her and DH. We went to shore after everyone on tours went. We had a long wait to fill the tender and it was an hour of waiting to get the tender filled back to the ship. The tender in Belize City is a ways out, not close like Cabo San Lucas on the Mexican Reviera. These private tour folks do not want anyone to miss the ship as that would give them a bad name. I would book, ask about the time to tender, then return. Now enjoy! :D

[debshomespun]

Lamanai is definitely a great place to see. We did it while on the Navigator. We did it through the cruiseline, but I would agree the private excursion should be safe. There wasn't much price difference between the ships and the independent one. We did feel safer doing the excursion through the cruise line in Belize, just in case.

[STARFISH*4]

We don't sail till Christmas day, but looking ahead for ideas. Our daughter, who lives in China, wants to see some mayan Ruins and reading the posts, it looks like Lamanai is the best. We always book private excursions, but was wondering if anyone has booked the Lamanai ruins privatly? The ruins are a far ride, first bus, then boat....worried about enough time making it back to last tender. I have read reviews and folks have said they loved it, but I would like to hear first hand from someone that has done this privatly. Thanks for any advise!

 

tendering with NCL in Belize can be hectic and you are NOT always guaranteed to get off the ship in time....you have to be sure to get tender tickets first etc etc...go with NCL, did this in Dec and we had a GOOD time...

this time of year can be COLD and RAINY so be prepared...the boat ride can be fast too...definitely would go with the ship and then you dont have to worry about enough time---we had some boat probs going back that caused a short delay so you have to be prepared for things like that to happen!

[BayouGirlUSA]

We will be staying in Ambergris Cay in June but not on a cruise. Can someone recommend a private tour for Lamanai? Any info you can give would be greatly appreciated!