Deciding between 3 tubing companies!!!!!!

[Brangwen]

I believe people have posted that .com does not require you to link together.

 

Thanks! We have over a year to go... so companies may come and go in that time period.. but it's 60 and raining here so I'm researching now ;):rolleyes:

[rhcpchika1]

I emailed .BZ about this; they say they have a rope-link option if you don't want to link with feet.

 

They also said the system VIV is using is not "safe" although i am not sure why that would be the case. ?!

 

I stuck with my BZ reservation for now

[mitsugirly]

I emailed .BZ about this; they say they have a rope-link option if you don't want to link with feet.

 

They also said the system VIV is using is not "safe" although i am not sure why that would be the case. ?!

 

I stuck with my BZ reservation for now

 

Well that's neat to know. I've never seen anyone say that you have the option to rope link or feet link.

 

The only thing that I can imagine with VIV would be if they don't link or don't have the lights on everyone's helmet...but I can't imagine that to be the case.

 

I stuck with my .bz too because they allow youngsters with them so I have no choice. Either way, we will be happy. :)

[whattodo]

We returned this week on NCL Spirit, stuck out at sea extra 2 days.

VIV (http://www.bze-trips.com) was very professional, top notch service. Marcia was waiting outside of terminal, our guide was Fabilio (sp?). Inside the cave, he made sure everyone in his group got showered by the rushing small waterfall. We heard other groups commenting how cool that we have headrest. Our guide was the only one speaking inside cave while other guides just let their people listen to Fabilio! I especially like the mesh bottom, it's like sitting on chair with support. I got a few surprises when the tube went over some larger rocks and hit my bottom :eek:. It was the best excursion in the whole trip. We did zip/cave including lunch at half the cost of NCL's prices. :)

 

mitsugirly: yes, helmets have lights.

[Walt fan]

whattodo: I e-mailed bze (VIV Tours) and asked if a deposit was required for a party of 8 sailing March 2012; "Garcia Garcia" responded back, no money required, just give date you will be there; were they waiting for you when you arrived at the port? Were they easy to find? With a party of 8; will they have a van for transportation to the caves? Thank you for your help

[nikita]

We returned this week on NCL Spirit, stuck out at sea extra 2 days.

VIV (http://www.bze-trips.com) was very professional, top notch service. Marcia was waiting outside of terminal, our guide was Fabilio (sp?). Inside the cave, he made sure everyone in his group got showered by the rushing small waterfall. We heard other groups commenting how cool that we have headrest. Our guide was the only one speaking inside cave while other guides just let their people listen to Fabilio! I especially like the mesh bottom, it's like sitting on chair with support. I got a few surprises when the tube went over some larger rocks and hit my bottom :eek:. It was the best excursion in the whole trip. We did zip/cave including lunch at half the cost of NCL's prices. :)

 

mitsugirly: yes, helmets have lights.

 

Our ship docks from 8-5, I have sent them an email to ask them if we have enough time to do both zip and caves. What was your experience with the amount of time it took from tender to return tender? We would probably need to get last tender around 4pm. Thanks so much!

[Life without whine]

Did a live chat yesterday with Belize excursions of Island marketing to address some of the not so hot reviews on trip advisor. Their response concerning the new great tubes offered by other companies involves an inability to paddle & lots of subsequent bruising because the tubes are too high off the water so their older tubes were better.

 

She also denied that anyone has a 'market stop' after finally departing the port or that there is ever a close call to make the tenders or a wait for incoming ships. Anyone out there got any any comments on this?

 

Trying to book a cave tubing trip for this January & am looking forward to finally choosing the right company - really only interested in cave tubing & local culture exposure

[oregonrebel]

Did a live chat yesterday with Belize excursions of Island marketing to address some of the not so hot reviews on trip advisor. Their response concerning the new great tubes offered by other companies involves an inability to paddle & lots of subsequent bruising because the tubes are too high off the water so their older tubes were better.

 

She also denied that anyone has a 'market stop' after finally departing the port or that there is ever a close call to make the tenders or a wait for incoming ships. Anyone out there got any any comments on this?

 

Trying to book a cave tubing trip for this January & am looking forward to finally choosing the right company - really only interested in cave tubing & local culture exposure

 

We have 3 of those white tubes that we use for rafting here in Oregon. You can buy them at Kmart and i cant say that they are uncomfortable or cause bruising. We have gone on 4-6 hours floats and i love them!!! So dont worry about that... The tube has a mesh bottom so you can put water bottles beside you and not worry about losing them.

[Life without whine]

We have 3 of those white tubes that we use for rafting here in Oregon. You can buy them at Kmart and i cant say that they are uncomfortable or cause bruising. We have gone on 4-6 hours floats and i love them!!! So dont worry about that... The tube has a mesh bottom so you can put water bottles beside you and not worry about losing them.

The impression I got was that because it was difficult to paddle and you are tied together as a group you ended up running into the walls of the cave frequently. Any truth to that story?

[laketimeaz]

We are considering using one of these companies in Nov, but absolutely do not want to be worrying about catching the tender at the end of the day - does anyone have any thoughts about this? I have heard it is best not to risk it and to take the ships excursion, but just not sure it is necessary especially at those prices.

[oregonrebel]

The impression I got was that because it was difficult to paddle and you are tied together as a group you ended up running into the walls of the cave frequently. Any truth to that story?

 

I cant speak for that.. I cant imagine that the other tubes are that much better... When you tie a bunch of tubes together its not going to be very easy to maneuver especially when you have a bunch of people trying to paddle this way and that way. I have taken our tubes in rapids much larger then anything i have seen in photos or videos from the caves and i've never had any issues. I guess if your very short then it may be an issue but then you could just sit on your knees on the mesh..

[mitsugirly]

whattodo: I e-mailed bze (VIV Tours) and asked if a deposit was required for a party of 8 sailing March 2012; "Garcia Garcia" responded back, no money required, just give date you will be there; were they waiting for you when you arrived at the port? Were they easy to find? With a party of 8; will they have a van for transportation to the caves? Thank you for your help

 

ALL of the cave tubing companies are waiting right outside the port and have signs. No worries...you will find them or they will find you. So many people standing around to point you in the right direction. Trust me, you'll find them. :)

 

 

We just came back last week from cavetubing with .bz and I will be giving my review of them once I get things together. THEY ARE AMAZING! JUNIOR IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST. I did not see another person working harder than him on this tour. He is beyond knowledgeable about everything related to the island and was also in the states for years during his childhood so can relate to anything you throw at him. Wonderful man.

[splinkaone]

Reviews please? from anyone who has done both, and which company you used. We are going in March and are very adventurous! We are interested in both cave tubing and ziplining, should we do just one or the other, or is there enough time and will it still be a good tour to do both? The other option would be a snorkel trip, but we are thinking about doing that in Roatan. Thanks for any advice :)

[mitsugirly]

Reviews please? from anyone who has done both, and which company you used. We are going in March and are very adventurous! We are interested in both cave tubing and ziplining, should we do just one or the other, or is there enough time and will it still be a good tour to do both? The other option would be a snorkel trip, but we are thinking about doing that in Roatan. Thanks for any advice :)

 

I just posted my review with .bz and you are welcome to read my experience with them and see the pictures that I have.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=30667696&postcount=44

[DalovelyDamanda]

That was a great review, mitsugirly. Thanks!

 

Anymore reviews of VIVtours? I'm leaning towards that one because of the headrests and it's on sale now for $44.

[nikita]

That was a great review, mitsugirly. Thanks!

 

Anymore reviews of VIVtours? I'm leaning towards that one because of the headrests and it's on sale now for $44.

 

We are going with VIV tours in two weeks so I would love another review as well. I will also try and give a review on this thread when we return.

[kanitter]

To those of you that have gone cave tubing, have any of you experienced any problems with feeling claustaphobic while in the caves? I know my DD really wants to do this and it sounds really nice, Buuuut. :o I am claustaphobic and I really don't want to get in the middle of a cave and start freaking out. I guess what I'm afraid of is that some of the caves would be small and the sides would be real close to us. Then I'm afraid I would feel like the cave was closing in on me. And me panicking is not a pretty thing to see. :rolleyes: So any imput from someone would be great.

[splinkaone]

I also would like to know about the size of the caves and any feelings of claustrophobia, one of our party is pretty claustrophobic. Is it strenuous or rough? I see that many allow young children so it can't be too hard.

[missemo12345]

I have the same concerns....Thank you for asking????

[mitsugirly]

The caves are not small at all. They are VERY wide. They do get dark in some places. However, everyone has their headlights on their helmets on, so you can see all the groups. Our tour guide did tell everyone he wanted to show us just how pitch black it really is in the caves without lights and told everyone to turn their lights out and try to see their hand in front of their face (you couldn't). However, if you have a problem with it, I'm sure you could warn him ahead of time and not do that. However, even when we turned them off, you could still see due to the fact that so many tour companies are going in the wave that you could still see lights from their helmets on. :D

[splinkaone]

Thanks for the info, I will let my friend know. We are hoping she will go with us, I assume that it is not too strenuous or rough as they let young children go on this tour?

[mitsugirly]

Thanks for the info, I will let my friend know. We are hoping she will go with us, I assume that it is not too strenuous or rough as they let young children go on this tour?

 

No, not strenuous or anything. It's like floating down a lazy river. When we went they had just had rain storms for 3 days they said and the water was up and it wasn't bad at all. Your tour guide (at least ours with .bz) is in control of your tubes the entire time and does all the paddling for you and pulling you around to keep you moving and going along safe. I was not worried with my 3 year old and felt safe the entire time. :)

[dmarie21]

No, not strenuous or anything. It's like floating down a lazy river. When we went they had just had rain storms for 3 days they said and the water was up and it wasn't bad at all. Your tour guide (at least ours with .bz) is in control of your tubes the entire time and does all the paddling for you and pulling you around to keep you moving and going along safe. I was not worried with my 3 year old and felt safe the entire time. :)

 

Since the water was high, did your group avoid the "butts up" moments?

[CACkles]

That was a great review, mitsugirly. Thanks!

 

Anymore reviews of VIVtours? I'm leaning towards that one because of the headrests and it's on sale now for $44.

 

We used VIV last week and it was incredible! I highly recommend them. Kareem was our driver and guide. He was knowledgeable, worked very hard and was always smiling. He really seemed to be enjoying himself too, which makes a huge difference to me. The tubes are comfortable, with a head rest and mesh bottom, and linked together, no feet to armpits. Some stated concerns about safety and paddling, but no worries at all. We never had to paddle; Kareem did all of the work for us. Never had a problem running into walls. Water was fairly high, so we only had two short "butts up" times which weren't bad.

 

Kareem told us that nobody has missed the tender in 12 years, among any of the operators. I believe him because otherwise you would read all about it on these boards. So I wouldn't worry about that for any reputable operator. I do recommend getting off the ship early. The earlier the group is ready, the earlier they will leave and the earlier you will get back. We had an hour to spare. You can also beat some of the crowds.

 

We did not zipline, but Kareem said that if you zipline they only do one cave instead of two for the tubing so you can make it back in time. Kareem said most operators just do the two caves anymore because they are the safest. In the other caves it is possible for the water levels to rise very quickly. For the person with a group of 8, it is possible that no one else would be put with you. The park rules are 1 guide per 8 people. VIV (when we were there) kept each group smaller than 8. Other groups had 16 linked together (by feet) with two guides. I liked our way better.

 

Let me know if anyone has other questions about them. I had high hopes for this tour, but it far exceeded my expectations.

[nikita]

Thank you so much for the glowing review of VIV - since we are using them next week!!