Altun Ha excursion through Carnival?

[lucia1024]

Hi

 

I posted this question on the Port of Call Board and no one has responded so I am trying to post it here with the hopes that someone will help me.

 

Just want to know if this excursion is worth booking with Carnival. I researched other site and the cost seems to be half the price. My main concern is getting back to the ship in time to leave. I will be on the Valor. Is this excursion worth the higher cost through Carnival?

 

Any experience with booking with Carnival vs. other excursion companies. I am leaving in 3 weeks, so I have to make reservation quickly.

 

Thanks for any help!

[CasinoQueen]

We did the Altun Ha and River Wallace excursion(through Carnival) last year and enjoyed it.

[Mary Ellen1]

Are you looking at the excursion with the river-boat ride included? If so, we took that a few years ago (through Carnival) and thought it was wonderful. It was almost like two excursions in one, because you get to see the Mayan ruins, and then see all kinds of wildlife (monkeys, birds, crocodiles, manatees...) when you take the boat ride. It was very cool!

 

That said, I frequently take excursions through private operators for -- like you said -- half the cost. If the private operator will get you back well before the time you're required to be back, I think I'd do it. This is a fairly straightforward excursion -- no complex transportation or other issues. Just a bus to the ruins, then a boat ride back (if we're talking about the same excursion, right??)

 

As a comparison, going to the Tulum ruins out of Cozumel requires a ferry transfer to the mainland, then a bus to Tulum -- it's fairly complex, and with something like that I would definitely feel more comfortable booking through the cruiseline.

[saltmom1]

This is a long excursion and when we did this through the cruiseline, we barely made it back in time. The operator of the boat opened up the engines full throttle to make it back. I don't think I would be comfortable doing this privately. It's too long. JMHO

[L_K]

Did the Altun Ha and city tour with Carnival and loved it.

 

The ride to the ruins is 1 hr + on a single lane road.

 

The single line road serves both directions ! The bus has to stop and move to the side frequently to let pass other cars.

 

I imagine if an accident occurs the traffic jams will be monstruous. For these reasons, i would stick with Carnival.

[Fergus]

I did this one through the ship. It was OK........bus ride through the city, out into the countryside to the ruins. They just let us out to walk around. There was a guide there that you could follow and hear some commentary, although his English was not the best. NOt sure what time of year you are going, but be forewarned, it is wicked hot there.

[vermonter16]

Can you guys please glance at the port of call boards every so often? It is frustrating having the boards there and trying to post in the proper places and so very few people ever respond if a response is given at all. A question like the OP has above can sit for ages with no activity.

[serene56]

We did this excursion through the cruise lines- the day is long

2 hours by bus/ferry each way.

 

Do not want to chance getting broke down on a bus using a private vendor.

 

There is no time for shopping after this excursion.

Cruise lines stop on the way-- expensive- bring toilet paper and a quarter

[FlaGrl4Evr]

We did the Altun-Ha and Belize City tour with Carnival. It was worth every penny. They use a local top-notch tour company and have newer, air-conditioned busses with nice cushey seats. No school busses here. We had two busses. We boarded the busses, selected our seats and had two very nice and knowledgable tour guides give us a tour of the city. They used a microphone so you could hear all the way in the back of the bus, so no worries there. The trip to the ruins was about an hour or so. Once there, we were given a cold bottle of water and offered a bathroom break. We were then split into smaller groups with one tour guide for each group and given a very comprehensive guided tour of all of the ruins with plenty of time for pictures and questions. If you wanted to do so, you could climb the Sun God Ruin. After we toured the ruin area, we were given about 30 minutes to do some shopping ( small open stalls with locals selling crafts. Great prices) We took a last minute bathroom break and back on the bus for the ride back to port.

 

Here are a few tips:

 

1- on the tour, you are only given a bottle of water. Bring a sealed snack with you, it is a long tour and they did not sell food at the site. We brought a box of granola bars and sealed bags of nuts, plus an extra bottle of water. You cannot bring food off the ship that is not sealed so no fruit or sandwiches from the buffet.

 

2--- DO NOT refill your bottle of water from the bathroom sinks or anywhere at this site. We were told the water is not filtered and it is not sanitized. You could and probably would get very sick. We washed our hands in the sink and then used some travel sized hand sanitizer that I had with me. Also bring some TP. They just didn't have any???? and wet wipes too.

 

3.--- The driver locks the bus and stays with it while everyone is on the tour. You keep your same seats that you had on the way up so it is ok to leave a shirt or extra bottle of water or non-valuable on board if you do not want to carry it around.

 

4.- If you see something nice in the craft stalls, just ask how much they will take. I bought a beautiful braclet and they came down just a bit on the price. I really hate haggling as I know this is a poor country and this is how they make their living. They did have a few stalls with some beautiful carved magogany pieces. So if you go here, check them out. The prices were MUCH better then in Roatan on the carved Mahogany.

 

5.--- It is a very poor country and you may be shocked at the living conditions that you will see on the city tour. They are however, very proud people and put a lot of value in theiir education system. You will see kids of all ages walking to school in their blue pants or skirts, for the girls, and starched and ironed white shirts. The education system and how it works will be explained on the tour. It was quite informative.

 

6. You may want to bring some bug spray. We went the end of Oct and the little bugs were not bad but depending on the time of year they could be. They also did not sell any bug spray at the site so be prepared if you think you may need it. You may also want to bring an extra tee shirt to change for the ride back if you become sweaty. We went in Oct and it was warm but I cannot imagine going during the summer months.

 

7.-- We had a great time, it was the highlight of our cruise as far as excursions go. We did give a tip to the tour guides, (One tip and they split it up between the three of them,) there were 2 tour guides per bus and one driver. Not everyone gave a tip so that is entirely up to you. We gave $10 for both my fiance and I. I'm not sure it that was enough or just right or what?????? but we did and what everyone else does is up to them. Just wanted to throw this out there for a tid-bit of info, in case you take the tour and want to stash back a few dollars for the end of the trip-tip.

 

 

 

**** We did not do the River Wallace tour as the Belize City one was a little shorter. We got back to the port in time to do plenty of shopping and still had lots of time to take the tenders. *******

 

 

Have a great time. I hope this helps.

[CRUISING71]

There are two ruin tour...Xunatunich and Altu Ha...Alta is much shorter. It is only 5 hours while the X is 7 to 8 hours.

 

With Carnival you are also doing the Wallace River, but private tour it is a straight shot ride to the Ruin.

 

If you are going to the Xuatunich, use Carnival Excursion to be on the safe side.

[AmandaKaye79]

We did the Altun-Ha and Belize city tour through Carnival. We loved every minute of it. As others have said, it takes about an hour on a bus to get there. It was for the most part a one way old road. The Belize city tour was also good. I did a review with a LOT of pics from this excursion, so if you can do a search for my postings, you should be able to pull it up under my review of Carnival Legend.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

There are two ruin tour...Xunatunich and Altu Ha...Alta is much shorter. It is only 5 hours while the X is 7 to 8 hours.

 

With Carnival you are also doing the Wallace River, but private tour it is a straight shot ride to the Ruin.

 

If you are going to the Xuatunich, use Carnival Excursion to be on the safe side.

 

 

 

Carnival offered 2 tours to Altun-Ha. One was Altun-Ha and the Belize City tour and the second was Altun-Ha with the River Wallce Tour. They were both with Carnival. I would NEVER take an independant tour of this length. Plus, with Carnival the busses were new and had air conditioniing the independant tours were older school busses with no air.

[suzinva]

We did the Altun Ha/River Wallace and it was the highlight of our trip. For various reasons I won't get into here, I won't use a private tour operator there (most people have EXCELLENT experiences with local operators, I did not) so we went with Carnival. It is long and we made it back with about 15 minutes to spare. Given the length of this trip, I think I'd advise that you use Carnival, that way there are no worries.

[sbnuggie]

This is the ONLY excursion I have ever booked through the cruise line. River Wallace/Altun Ha tour. It was on the legend in 5/2009. I always go through independent operators but with Belize given the tender distance, traffic around the city, the length of time once your at the harbor to any available excursions on the land which usually involves some sort of long bus ride I opted to use the Carnival Excursion.

 

BOY, was I glad we did. The order of the excursion is reversed for some, when you get to port all of the people booked on the excursion are broken up into various groups (don't worry, you won't be split from friends/family). Some hop on the boat and do the river tour first while some are taken by bus to the ruins first. Then you swap directions once at the ruin (those that went by bus first to ruins hop on the boats and are taken back down the river to the port).

 

On our excursion we went by boat first. Each group in a boat is about 15 people or so. We saw manatee's, crocodiles, bats, spiders, monkeys and cows. We got off the boat at a restaurant called the Black orchid and had traditional Belizian chicken and rice with a nice cold beer. Some boats had covers on them some did not. See attached Photo.

 

Then you get on nice big A/C busses for a short drive out to the ruins. The same tour guide you had with you on the boat comes with you on the ruins tour. He gave us a good tour on the ruins and we were allowed to climb to the top of the highest pyramid for 20 minutes or so, then back to bus and back to the port.

 

Now, our part of the story comes at the top of the pyramid. A lady in our group, for whatever reason, decided to climb to the top of the pyramid (very safe, stairs on the side of the pyramid aid your ascent). What she didn't tell people is that she has an extreme fear of heights. I mean we are talking a paralyzing fear of heights yet she climbed up these stairs anyway. She gets to the top and freezes, sits down and refuses to get up and leave.

 

This is an all day tour and your timing is tight. The guide was trying to help her, others, including a doctor was trying to coax her to stand up but she refused. We were all on the bus waiting watching the minutes tick by, 5 minutes....10 minutes....15 minutes......Finally 1 hour later she comes walking on the bus. Turns out 4 of the guides picked her up, kicking and screaming, and carried her down off of the pyramid. Once on the ground, she calmed down and walked onto the bus as if nothing happened. There were a lot of angry people on that bus I tell you. We were the last one's there, all of the other busses were full so we couldn't get on other busses.

 

The driver hauls butt back to the port and we get on the last tender back to the ship. They build in a little slack time for little things like this but by the time we got back to the port it left absolutely no time for shopping/trinket gathering etc. Had the bus broke down or an accident etc they would've had to hold the boat for us, but for how long I don't know.

 

Bottom line, if you are going to take all day excursions that are semi complicated or involve a lot of transportation, use ship excursion. I've included some photo's of our adventure, photo of boats used, ruins and the lady being consoled/coaxed.

[77sue]

I would absolutely book through Carnival. The roads are horrible. We went with a different tour company (lady in our party booked it-she's cheap). We were crammed into a crappy old window van that rattled so much we could not hear the driver. Tour was fine, included was a lunch at this small belize restaurant (in the middle of the jungle)-food was great. Then we all piled into the van--the driver lost her keys! We are forty miles from the port. Everyone back out of the van-searching for the keys. Lady that booked for us starts freaking out-goes totally off. Another tour guide stopped tour buses as they were going by to see if they had room for us. We (four of us) got the first bus, as the other people had eight traveling together. Much nicer bus. Made it back with about an hour to go. Phil's tours ******************* was our hero!!!

 

But after this experience, anything that goes far from the port, I would only go through Carnival!!! We have a great vacation story--but it could have been not a happy ending.

[seaofblue]

Went on this excursion through Carnival--included River Wallace--was worth the extra money to be safe--enjoyed it very much--at the ruins they sell crafts including carved wooden pieces--the locals were not pushy--very friendly and were proud of their crafts--great prices--it also included a stop at a rustic resort--pool, hammocks, gift shop, bar--boat ride was very relaxing--great cultural learning experience.

[lucia1024]

Thanks for sharing all of your experiences with me. I think I will go through Carnival for the Altun Ha/River tour.

 

It's 3 weeks away!

 

Can't wait!

[ferfoodle]

We did this excursion through the cruise lines- the day is long

2 hours by bus/ferry each way.

 

Do not want to chance getting broke down on a bus using a private vendor.

 

There is no time for shopping after this excursion.

Cruise lines stop on the way-- expensive- bring toilet paper and a quarter

 

Pay toilets I presume? Haven't seen those in eons.

 

Thanks for the tips everyone! I booked the tour with River Wallace through Carnival as well for our upcoming cruise. I had looked at the port of calls section, but couldn't find responses as good and compact as these over the course of several days searching the Belize board.

[Extrahorizons]

Turns out 4 of the guides picked her up, kicking and screaming, and carried her down off of the pyramid. Once on the ground, she calmed down and walked onto the bus as if nothing happened. There were a lot of angry people on that bus I tell you. .

 

 

I am ROFL over this! What on earth was she thinking?

 

Thanks for the information- we are seriously considering this tour for our April 1, 2012 cruise. I just hope I don't get this person on our tour!