Cave Tubing With Carnival?

[tropics]

Has anyone booked this excursion with Carnival? If so was it ok? I am not willing to go through any other co. since we will be pressed for time.

[davidaperryman]

Most people who read these boards book with an independent since it is cheaper and better. We went with X-Stream cave tubing.

[cruizin' canadian]

We just got back from the Carnival Glory cruise two weeks ago. We all wanted to go on the cave tubing excursion in Belize, but the trip offered by the cruise line was somewhere around $95 USD. We ended up booking a tour with Yhony @ cave-tubing.com. It only cost us $45 USD pp, and we got the same tour! The only difference is that lunch is included with the ship's tour, but we could have stopped for lunch if we wanted to and it would have only cost us $5 more. Our tour guide was Junior, and we all loved him. He was very informative and a great guide. We were docked @ 8am and had until 4:30 to get back on the boat, and we had more than enough time to do this tour. I suggest that if you do have a tour booked, don't wait for your tender boat number to be called. We just lined up on Deck 0 and got on the next boat, no questions asked. We ended up leaving the pier at around 10 am ship time (9am Belize time), and we got back at around 2 pm with enough time to shop. The cave tubing tour is wonderful and if you are interested in going on this excursion, I highly recommend cave-tubing.com.

[Andrea1970]

My dh did an independent tour, too- however, he said that he saw the Carnival groups on the trip. The difference to him? 1) cost and 2) he had 10 people in his tour (through Coral Breeze) and the ship had like over 30-40 people in each group and like three groups. Much more crowded. He loved Coral Breeze and arrived back with an hour before the ship left (plenty of time, I assure you).

 

 

You'd be fine with a Carnival expedition, just poorer and more crowded. I'm sure you'll enjoy it regardless.

[chefdeedee]

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.

[frontrangecruiser]

Hi, I recently took the tour, it was fascinating, and my family loved it. To be honest, I'm not a great swimmer, and I had a young child with me, but the tour company I took was very good. They took extra precaution with my child, so I felt very safe. I was honest in the beginning and told the guide that I was not a good swimmer. The company I went with was A-1 Travel, I paid $60.00, and they took us to areas that no one else went. Our guide really made it lots more fun. You can email them if you like at attbelize@hotmail.com, or call them at 1-877-5BELIZE. Tell them Fred sent you if you decide to try them. They were a little bit more money, but they met me INSIDE the Tourist Village, and brought me back to the same area. I felt completely safe and got back on time. Our tour was also a bit more than others in that we went into the open river and were swinging off vines jumping into the river. Our experience with A-1 was truly "AWESOME".

 

People...this person has posted this very statement on every Belize cave tubing thread....looks like a scam advertisement to me

[sy1692]

Just got back from Elation and we booked the cave tubing through carnival. It was a great experience but would not do it again. I would feel better booking through Carnival only because Belize you know they would contact the ship of some sort of delay. We happen to be on the last tour bus leaving and I spoke to a woman who was concerned that her bus was not that there and we had about 90 minutes to get back to the ship. It is about an one hour bus ride to the pier.

 

 

And no snakes, or bugs just the water was a bit chilly for my taste, but my BF loved that the water was cool and refreshing.

 

But we had a great time. The Caves were awesome.

[Waack25th]

This was the reason we booked independently from the cruise ship....we were on the Legend 3/19-27...Carnival had 265 people booked for cave tubing! We had on our tour booked with Youny. Junior was our guide. He talked from the time we got into the van about Belize, the government, schools, taxes, we learned so much on the ride to the caves. At the rainforest, he provided us with tubes and life jackets...that did not smell of mildew. We were off, and his tour included pointing out plant life, plantaines growing in the rainforest, etc. At the river he had us get accustomed to the water, and then we were off...he stayed near the entire time. We saw some of the huge groups ahead, and noted that there was no way they were hearing anything the guide was saying with groups that size.

 

Youny charged us $45 per person. He met us with the sign, escorted us to the van, intoduced us to Junior and we were off. Junior also asked if it would be okay to give a young lady a lift to the main road on our way back to the ship (the jungle roads are EXTREMELY rough with large stones paving them). We were impressed with the kindness he extended. I really had the feeling tha the people of Belize really look out for one another.

It was a great excursion!

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.

[lindaandsteve]

My husband and I just got back from our trip on the Carnival Miracle and we booked our cave tubing trip through the cruise ship. Yes, it cost us more money and yes there were more people in the group, but for us the fact that not once did we look at our watch or give a second thought to what time it was made it worth the extra money. Our biggest fear was being late. It was fun with the large group because once inside the cave we were asked to all turn off our lights and be very quiet and then the guide said everyone yell as loud as you can. It was a blast! There were times however when the guide got so far ahead we couldn't hear him but we just enjoyed the whole exprerience anyway.

[Waack25th]

I too wondered what we would do if we were delayed and couldn't make it back to the ship, but it was never an issue with either of the excursions we booked independently. I didn't even bother wearing a watch! Youny (Belize cavetubing-com) explained up front that he has never missed returning a tour to the ship on time. He explained that he would quickly be out of business if this happened, as he has alot of tour competition, thus he charged us $45 as opposed to $99 (Carnival price). He is prepared for any breakdowns by having each van/bus equipped with cell phones so that another van/bus can be dispatched to pick up passengers in case of breakdown or emergency and transport back to the port. We were back an hour or more before last tender, and had time for a cold beer at the dock and some shopping. Same was the case in Panama where we took the Grand Tour with "myfriendmario.com" We had 15 in our group and paid $55 per person whereas the ship charged $179. Mario and Roberto were our guides, and we had such a personalized experience. Mario even had surprises for everyone at the end of the tour. When we met him at the port, he had coolers on the bus of cold drinks, and at the Indian Village, served us lunch of large, individually packaged tropical fruit salads he had in the coolers, along with fresh fried tilapia and plantaines wrapped in palm leaf cones, prepared by the indian women. We had no idea that lunch was included in the $55! He also made a side trip (by request) to stop off for cold beers on the way to the Panama canal Gatun Locks. Snacks of cookies and pretzels were provided along the way as well. Again, we were back at port in plenty of time to do some duty free shopping and have a leisurely cold beer dockside before reboarding the ship. I would highly recommend both of these tours....and rest assured...these two outfits won't let you miss your ship! (According to Youny, Carnival takes a huge chunk of the money being paid for ship sponsored excursions...and the tour operators are making less than half of that amount.)

 

Just wanted to put those at ease who may have concerns about missing their ship!:)

 

My husband and I just got back from our trip on the Carnival Miracle and we booked our cave tubing trip through the cruise ship. Yes, it cost us more money and yes there were more people in the group, but for us the fact that not once did we look at our watch or give a second thought to what time it was made it worth the extra money. Our biggest fear was being late. It was fun with the large group because once inside the cave we were asked to all turn off our lights and be very quiet and then the guide said everyone yell as loud as you can. It was a blast! There were times however when the guide got so far ahead we couldn't hear him but we just enjoyed the whole exprerience anyway.

[cygnus]

I agree with many of the positive comments regarding Yahony at cavetubing.com

 

We were sailing on NCL and they wanted $95 per person. Yahony charged only $45 per person. Our group was small (7) as opposed to the over 50 you will see with ship tour groups.

 

After you get off your tender, simply walk outside of the terminal and they will be there to meet you (your name is on a sign). Yahony immediately makes you feel welcome and you can tell that his only goal is for you to have the best experience in Belize. Period.

 

Our guide was Timmy and he was simply fantastic! He made it very clear to all of us that it was OUR tour and that we should not be afraid to make requests. He took us on a drive through Belize City and explained the history and culture.

 

Upon arrival at the caves (be ready for that bumpy road!), we hiked a very easy to walk path. Along the way, Timmy would point out areas of interest (ie. plant life, wildlife, etc.). He is very knowledgable about his country!

 

When we started the cave tubing, Timmy would guide us along and forewarn us of shallow areas and areas of rapids. While the big tour groups were walking with their tubes in the shallow sections (because they were forced to "move along" by their tour), Timmy would allow us to float our way through. We were in no rush to complete the experience!

 

There is an optional lunch if you want it, but no pressure is put on you to accept it. We went for lunch and it was excellent! Timmy even served us, for crying out loud! It was fabulous!

 

On the way back Timmy, again, took us through the city and showed us the different areas of interest.

 

I cannot recommend this company enough! You will not be disappointed and you can brag at dinner about how you got a great deal and an excellent tour!