Hoping for help & opinions,

[mitchpam]

Going to Belize on Carnival Dream Nov/Dec. and having trouble discerning info from this board...

 

OK, here is the summary I have come up with, PLEASE give your input as to the correctness of it. I still have more questions than answers... Carnival Dream trip 2011 options

 

1.Barrier Reef Snorkel with Beach Break $69.95 pp 3.5 hours picks you up from the ship... *8:30am... no need to tender. High speed catamaran, but kinda crowded (even though it says limited availability). Not sure which beach it goes to, but sounds like there are facilities. Extra $$to be spent there... though they offer rum punch, sodas and water as part of the tour (prob. on the boat only, not once you hit the beach.). I assume snorkel first, then drop off at beach. Sounds to me like the snorkeling "could be better" or perhaps I mis-interpreted "seen better" incorrectly. I have not seen any recent posts to be able to figure this tour out, but it sounded like there were some issues for a while with the beach it went to...

 

 

2. Goff's Caye Snorkeling $59.99 pp 3.5 hours picks up from the ship... * 8:15am...no need to tender... bench seats on the boat, no back rest. Not sure about # of people on this tour... varies. Quiet, but small spit of land, no real facilities. Can rent a chair. Snorkeling around the island sounds like fun, but currents can be strong, and I have not read too many GREAT things about what people have *actually* seen. None, to limited food availability (depending on ??what I am not sure) After snorkeling off the boat you have approx 90 minutes to sit, swim, or snorkel more at the beach.

 

3. http://www.coralbreezetours.com... lots of options, but have to tender in and tender back out to islands and snorkeling. Sounds like the tours could be just as crowded as the Carnival sponsored tours, and the price is really not that much different.

 

4. We are currently the only ship scheduled to be in port that day and someone else suggested that we wait and book at the pier. This seems risky to me just to save a few bucks, but never having done it i would love some input...

 

So.... PLEASE give any feedback you can as to the "truth" of what I have laid out. i would love to hear if I am wrong. We are looking for a good snorkel, laid back beach, no hassle kidna vacation... THANKS!

__________________

ever the wishful cruiser... more, more, more...

 

*Carnival Dream, Exotic Western, November 2011

 

*Carnival Liberty, Western Caribbean, March 2006

 

*Celebrity Millennium, Eastern Caribbean, March 2004

[cruzingramma]

my husband and I LOVE to simply relax on the beach so we have done the Coral Breeze Tour twice. The beach break and manatee watch is great Bannister Island is beautiful, the manatee watch, well...... MAYBE you will see one,we didn't but it was OK, we had a GREAT relaxing day at Bannister Island!

I've heard from others on the beach that the snorkeling tour offered by Coral Breeze is awesome as well!

[Will in sunny FL]

We go twice a year & prefer to go with Coral Breeze when in Belize.

We do their Snorkel trip with the local lunch on beautiful caye Caulker.

Hard to beat this trip anywhere.

Do a search here & see what you come up with.

Enjoy Belize.

Bill in FL

[mitchpam]

We go twice a year & prefer to go with Coral Breeze when in Belize.

We do their Snorkel trip with the local lunch on beautiful caye Caulker.

Hard to beat this trip anywhere.

Do a search here & see what you come up with.

Enjoy Belize.

Bill in FL

 

Thanks for your input, I have been doing LOTS of searches, and have had such mixed responses that I am having difficulty sorting through it all... how crowded was your trip to snorkel/caye Caulker with Coral Breeze?

[mitchpam]

my husband and I LOVE to simply relax on the beach so we have done the Coral Breeze Tour twice. The beach break and manatee watch is great Bannister Island is beautiful, the manatee watch, well...... MAYBE you will see one,we didn't but it was OK, we had a GREAT relaxing day at Bannister Island!

I've heard from others on the beach that the snorkeling tour offered by Coral Breeze is awesome as well!

 

When did you go on this trip with them? There seems to be some recent troubles (mostly the Banister Island beach, not the tour company) and I am uncertain if they have been resolved. Also, how many people were on this excursion with you?

[mitchpam]

Ok, so I have been researching the boards for info while hoping for a response to my querry, and really have NOT come up with much more than what I have already put down in my original post. The Belize board is very slow moving and some of the posts I have been reading are old and outdated. So here are some other ?? I have come up with while searching...

 

If anyone has been to Goffs Caye in late Nov early Dec could you please tell me if there were any food services the day you were on the island? It seems as if there is sometimes food / sometimes not, and I am not thinking I want to be there on a day when there might not.

 

If folks have done CB tours could you tell me how crowded theses tours were?

Also, if our ship is to be the only one in port that day will it make any big difference as to #'s anyway?? or as to the services that we might be offered?

[glorialagos]

Agree with the Belize board being extremely slow. Have you checked trip advisor? I have had some of your same questions. We chose Goff's Caye snorkeling without the ship. One of the reasons I thought it would be nice NOT to do the ship snorkeling is so we can tender to Belize City and hopefully see at least a tiny bit of that port. I don't see tendering straight to snorkeling and back to the ship as a positive but rather a negative. Having never been to Belize, I would love to see at least a small portion of the city.

 

I will let you know how our experience is. Our ship is the only scheduled to be there on that day. (leaving in less that two weeks!)

[mitchpam]

Agree with the Belize board being extremely slow. Have you checked trip advisor? I have had some of your same questions. We chose Goff's Caye snorkeling without the ship. One of the reasons I thought it would be nice NOT to do the ship snorkeling is so we can tender to Belize City and hopefully see at least a tiny bit of that port. I don't see tendering straight to snorkeling and back to the ship as a positive but rather a negative. Having never been to Belize, I would love to see at least a small portion of the city.

 

I will let you know how our experience is. Our ship is the only scheduled to be there on that day. (leaving in less that two weeks!)

 

Thanks so much, I have done tripadvisor searches as well as searched the boards and the internet in general... but I have had a hard time getting a good feel for anything other than cave tubing, and we are not really interested in doing that. Usually there are lots of comments and suggestions, as well as option upon option, but for some reason this port is stumping me... but I have time on my side and I am SURE something will rise to the top to help make a decision :) I will look forward to any insight you can bring back with you.... have a WONDERFUL cruise!!

[crewsweeper]

Agree with the Belize board being extremely slow. Have you checked trip advisor? I have had some of your same questions. We chose Goff's Caye snorkeling without the ship. One of the reasons I thought it would be nice NOT to do the ship snorkeling is so we can tender to Belize City and hopefully see at least a tiny bit of that port. I don't see tendering straight to snorkeling and back to the ship as a positive but rather a negative. Having never been to Belize, I would love to see at least a small portion of the city.

 

I will let you know how our experience is. Our ship is the only scheduled to be there on that day. (leaving in less that two weeks!)

 

While some port schedules show th eDream as the only ship in, they may not reflect recent changes by cruise lines. We were scheduled to be the only ship in Belize in mid June, but woke up to see the Legend anchoring right next to us. If you are the only ship in, you can assume the CB excursions will be less crowded than the ship excursions, especially the Caye Caulker Sting Ray Alley.

 

Most excursions that use water taxis or boats depart from the TV and you will not see any of the city. Maya Ruin tours, especially Altun Ha, cave-tubing, and zoo tours will give you a flavor of the city. Jusy be aware that to get to the main highways these tours frequently travel through some of the poorer sections of the city. Belize City is a working city and not really geared for tourists.

[glorialagos]

While some port schedules show th eDream as the only ship in,

 

Most excursions that use water taxis or boats depart from the TV and you will not see any of the city. Maya Ruin tours, especially Altun Ha, cave-tubing, and zoo tours will give you a flavor of the city. Jusy be aware that to get to the main highways these tours frequently travel through some of the poorer sections of the city. Belize City is a working city and not really geared for tourists.

 

 

So if I check right before going, could I find out if another ship might be in port or will it just be a total surprise on that day and no way of knowing? Not that it matters, just curious.

 

Yes, I understand we will leave straight from the TV. I am hoping that we get back with an hour or two available to do some exploring on our own. I prefer seeing the "true" side of places and not the touristy so I am looking forward to that.

 

Thanks for your insight.

[doublej]

Would also appreciate information about Goff's Caye. Considering snorkle/beach excursion through Island Marketing in November. Sounds good as does the price.

[cruisemainiac]

Another option for you. Think about cave tubing, ruins or something that you can't do anywhere else. I noticed you'll also be in Roatan(great snorkeling, very good beach), and Costa Maya( very good snorkeling and great beach time).

 

PS What part of Me., I lived there for 25 years before moving south.

[mitchpam]

Another option for you. Think about cave tubing, ruins or something that you can't do anywhere else. I noticed you'll also be in Roatan(great snorkeling, very good beach), and Costa Maya( very good snorkeling and great beach time).

 

PS What part of Me., I lived there for 25 years before moving south.

 

Hi crusiemaniac, we are in the Mid-coast area, not far from Freeport and LL Bean's.

 

I know everyone says to do the cavetubing (our niece has told us we NEED to do it because they went on their last cruise and loved it)... but we have done cave "things" before and are really just not quite into it this trip. We have also been to ruins. We really just want something laid back, not too herded, with the ability to be phsically active OR relaxed... while soaking up some sun and seeing the beautiful BLUE water of the Carribean...

 

I guess one of my concerns is the long tendering process... which is the only reason that we are considering the Carnival cruise tour as opposed to a private vendor.

The other concern was which tour/beach would fit our wants. It has been hard researching the Belize boards, many folks have gotten on here and just said "do a search and you'll find LOTS of info." but that has not been the case for me. We have time on our side though so I am not too worried about it, we will figure something out I am sure...

[Carmelita]

Haven't been there via cruise but will be in March on NCL. We did spend a couple of weeks in Belize on a land trip about 8 years ago and did the ruins and caving so this time we are also looking for a low key day to snorkel and get some good local food. We snorkeled Shark Ray alley before and it was extremely busy, way too many people. This time around we just plan on taking the water taxi over to Caye Caulker and back, cheaper than the excursions and we can plan our own day as we wish.

[Cayoooga]

We have been to Belize several times, I would recommend that you do one of the Coral Breezes tours, for snorkelling and beach time. We have used them a few times and always enjoyed the excursion. The tendering is just something you have to do, but it is run through the Belize Port Authority and it is very efficient. We have done Lamanai with a private excursion and Xunantunich ruins through the ship. We always try to do a private excursion to stay away from the crowds. Hope that helps. Just relax and have a good time.:D

[mitchpam]

We have been to Belize several times, I would recommend that you do one of the Coral Breezes tours, for snorkelling and beach time. We have used them a few times and always enjoyed the excursion. The tendering is just something you have to do, but it is run through the Belize Port Authority and it is very efficient. We have done Lamanai with a private excursion and Xunantunich ruins through the ship. We always try to do a private excursion to stay away from the crowds. Hope that helps. Just relax and have a good time.:D

 

Thanks for your input. I must say that Coral Breeze very consistantly comes up with good feedback. I appreciate your remark about the fact that "tendering is just something you have to do"... I had not gotten my mind to surrender to this fact yet, and I may be nearing the realization that a smaller, private company is MORE what we want than *just* not having to tender twice. :)

[mitchpam]

Haven't been there via cruise but will be in March on NCL. We did spend a couple of weeks in Belize on a land trip about 8 years ago and did the ruins and caving so this time we are also looking for a low key day to snorkel and get some good local food. We snorkeled Shark Ray alley before and it was extremely busy, way too many people. This time around we just plan on taking the water taxi over to Caye Caulker and back, cheaper than the excursions and we can plan our own day as we wish.

 

A few folks from our roll call have said that we should just wait until we get there, tender in, and pick from the offerings at the tendering port. It makes me a little nervous to do that though. I would be afraid not to "be in the hands" of *someone* . We'll see... no absolute decision yet...

[cruisy-suzy]

Hi, I had the same questions as you when planning our recent visit to Belize on the Legend. We chose the Goff's Caye snorkeling trip from CCL to avoid tendering, it seemed like our best use of time.

 

The group was loaded on 2 excursion boats with a total of 50-60 people. We spent about 20 min on the ride to Goff's Caye. The excursion captains decided the water was too rough there so they decided to go to another Caye (sorry I can't remember the name of it) instead. It was a little choppy there too. The snorkeling was a guided tour - not my favorite way to go, and too crowded in my opinion. Only saw a few fish. Those who wanted to could snorkel out further (also guided) during the second half of the time we were there. One person in our group did this and said she saw a lot more fish further out.

 

The caye had a dock, a one-seater bathroom, and beach mats for us to use. They handed out bags of water but there were no services other than what I mentioned. Below is a picture of the island.

 

All in all I liked the excursion, probably the best type of beach excursion with snorkeling to be had in Belize. The tour operators were REALLY GOOD!

[mitchpam]

Thanks cruisy... glad for the input :)

[urbanhawk]

Goffe's Caye-in Dec. '09 I went there on a Carnival excursion-it sounded interesting, and it was beautiful, but the day was overcast, and on the verge of raining. The caye is small-even smaller than I imagined. No food, and I believe there were port a potties, if needed, which were clean. I really wanted to do an excursion by an independent company, and go to Caye Caulker (or go on my own, by water taxi), but I had read too many different horror stories of folks nearly missing their tenders back to the ship, so I went with Carnival's excursion. (In the end, I'm glad I didn't book to Caye Caulker, as it was a cool cloudy day-would have been a long cold ride to go there and back) There was plenty of time after getting back to the ship, to tender into the port to shop, have a drink, etc. This was my experience/thoughts/opinions...Whatever you decide on, have fun!:cool:

[loves2_shop]

Thanks for your input, I have been doing LOTS of searches, and have had such mixed responses that I am having difficulty sorting through it all... how crowded was your trip to snorkel/caye Caulker with Coral Breeze?

 

 

We have a Coral Breeze snorkeling trip reserved for December. I never considered it could be crowded. One of the reasons we chose CB was trying to avoid a crowded trip which we thought we'd get with a ship booked excursion. If anyone that has been on a CB snorkel could respond with how many people were on the boat, that'd be GREAT! Thanks!! :)

[glorialagos]

Just looked through to see if I had commented since we returned from our trip to Goff's Caye and doesn't look like I did.

 

We really enjoyed our trip. The tender to the Tourist Village was quick. Our ride to the island was about 35 minutes but we were surrounded by dolphins both there and back and stopped both times to watch and take pictures - an added treat. There were about 15 of us on our boat.

 

The island was very small but adequate. Someone was grilling chicken, lobster and hot dogs ($7 for chicken - very good). There was a jewelry and wood stand. The rum punch and water were plentiful.

 

Snorkeling was good. We stayed in two different groups and saw a lot - couple barracudas but nothing too exciting (I think the dolphins on the way there and back were the highlight). There were lots of colorful fish and pretty coral. The guide was very good at pointing things our and bringing things up if possible.

 

Our trip was 3.5 hours, $40 and included water and rum punch. It was an excellent trip and I would do it again if going to Belize. We had time to shop when we returned and loved the purse choices.

[loves2_shop]

Just looked through to see if I had commented since we returned from our trip to Goff's Caye and doesn't look like I did.

 

We really enjoyed our trip. The tender to the Tourist Village was quick. Our ride to the island was about 35 minutes but we were surrounded by dolphins both there and back and stopped both times to watch and take pictures - an added treat. There were about 15 of us on our boat.

 

The island was very small but adequate. Someone was grilling chicken, lobster and hot dogs ($7 for chicken - very good). There was a jewelry and wood stand. The rum punch and water were plentiful.

 

Snorkeling was good. We stayed in two different groups and saw a lot - couple barracudas but nothing too exciting (I think the dolphins on the way there and back were the highlight). There were lots of colorful fish and pretty coral. The guide was very good at pointing things our and bringing things up if possible.

 

Our trip was 3.5 hours, $40 and included water and rum punch. It was an excellent trip and I would do it again if going to Belize. We had time to shop when we returned and loved the purse choices.

 

I'm wondering who you booked your trip thru. Was it the ship or an independent company? $40 seems like a good price. :)

[mitchpam]

Goffe's Caye-in Dec. '09 I went there on a Carnival excursion-it sounded interesting, and it was beautiful, but the day was overcast, and on the verge of raining. The caye is small-even smaller than I imagined. No food, and I believe there were port a potties, if needed, which were clean. I really wanted to do an excursion by an independent company, and go to Caye Caulker (or go on my own, by water taxi), but I had read too many different horror stories of folks nearly missing their tenders back to the ship, so I went with Carnival's excursion. (In the end, I'm glad I didn't book to Caye Caulker, as it was a cool cloudy day-would have been a long cold ride to go there and back) There was plenty of time after getting back to the ship, to tender into the port to shop, have a drink, etc. This was my experience/thoughts/opinions...Whatever you decide on, have fun!:cool:

 

Urban, Thanks so much.... this is the kind of quick "my experience" that I love to read... it helps a lot. I have been so busy this summer that I have put off making any decisions about Belize... I am glad to know that if we just take the Carnival tour and return to the ship, we will still have time to tender into port if we are not too tired... good stuff :)

[mitchpam]

Just looked through to see if I had commented since we returned from our trip to Goff's Caye and doesn't look like I did.

 

We really enjoyed our trip. The tender to the Tourist Village was quick. Our ride to the island was about 35 minutes but we were surrounded by dolphins both there and back and stopped both times to watch and take pictures - an added treat. There were about 15 of us on our boat.

 

The island was very small but adequate. Someone was grilling chicken, lobster and hot dogs ($7 for chicken - very good). There was a jewelry and wood stand. The rum punch and water were plentiful.

 

Snorkeling was good. We stayed in two different groups and saw a lot - couple barracudas but nothing too exciting (I think the dolphins on the way there and back were the highlight). There were lots of colorful fish and pretty coral. The guide was very good at pointing things our and bringing things up if possible.

 

Our trip was 3.5 hours, $40 and included water and rum punch. It was an excellent trip and I would do it again if going to Belize. We had time to shop when we returned and loved the purse choices.

 

Hi Gloria... thanks for the input. Just a few things... when did you go? Also, I am assuming that you went to Geoff's caye with a private company since you referred to tendering to the Tourist Village and having time to shop when you returned? Who did you go with? and how crowded was your tour? I also assume you did not have the island to yourself and that other tour groups were there... so how crowded was it?