Just Back from Cave Tubing (Carnival Miracle)

[BoatGirl]

We took the cave tubing excursion with Wet N Wild last Friday, 4/8. We were worried ahead of time because the time change would put ship time (Eastern Daylight Savings) two hours ahead of Belize time. We had 18 family members on this excursion, and we were all frantically emailing Marvin, worried about missing our ship. Marvin was so patient and assured us that we would be fine. And we were!

 

We arrived at the pier at 9 a.m. ship time, 7 a.m. Belize time, and they were there ready and waiting for us! This is a full hour ahead of when they originally said they would meet us. Very impressive!

 

They took us in two groups, but stayed together as we had people in both groups. Charlie, Carlos, and Junior were our guides, and they were great! Charlie drove our van with 12 passengers, and gave us a lot of great information about the country of Belize and its people. He did drive VERY fast, though! We even got pulled over by the police! We thought that was wild, until we got to the 6 miles of unpaved road. He didn't seem to drive any slower here! The van shook so hard that the driver-side door kept coming open! He just closed it every time without even slowing down!

 

The river was very clear and cool. You get used to it quickly, though. I recommend jumping off the cliff to enter the river. They say it's 10 ft., but it's more like six, and not scary at all.

 

The caves are absolutely breath-taking! I was surprised by how much time you spend in the caves, not much open river at all! The water was very low and we did have to paddle a lot. We even had to get out and walk in a few very low spots. Charlie says this is dry season, and the river is higher and faster June - November. I would love to come back during that time and do the tour again, it is awesome! Take an underwater camera. I regret not taking mine!

 

After almost 2 hours of tubing, we walk back to the vans and eat lunch at a little place called Amigo's. We had a traditional Belizian meal of rice, beans, and chicken and cole slaw with a soda of your choice--delicious!

 

Charlie, Carlos, and Junior were great at not only making sure we had a great time, but also very concerned about making sure we made it back to the ship on time.

 

We were back at the pier at 3:30. The last tender supposedly left at 4:00 (I think they had tenders later than that.) And the ship departed at 5 p.m. We even had a little time to shop!

 

This was one of the best excursions I have ever done, and I highly recommend it! I will be happy to answer any questions.

 

Diane

P.S. We saw NO SNAKES! :D

[KentuckyTam]

Thanks for your review! I will be leaving in two weeks for the Miracle and also have planned on cave tubing. While they always say they will have you back in time, it's good to hear that they actually did! How did you get such an early tender off?

[BoatGirl]

KentuckyTam: You will love the cave tubing! We got an early tender by going down at 8 a.m. to where they were handing out tender tags (they are stickers you put on your shirt). They gave us tender 2, but we kept seeing groups of ship tours going down to the tenders. Once they loaded the ships tours on, we got in line, and they just ushered us through. I don't think they care when you go as long as the Carnival excursion guests are first. We didn't wait for them to call for tenders over the loud speaker. They just happened to have empty tenders ready there and waiting. We got lucky, I guess.

 

The pax on ship tours do not have to wear tender stickers, so if you are a small group, you could just blend right in if you wanted to! :)

 

Make sure you wear a swimsuit or shorts that you don't mind getting scraped on the rocks! Enjoy your cruise, and the cave tubing!

[barsred]

Just returned from Belize aboard the Carnival Miracle. Pre booked with Cavetubing.com before leaving home. These guys are Great! We had a family of only six and had two guides, Tim and Junior who were both very patient and friendly. We passed groups who booked through the ship who had one guide for a whole bus load of people tubing. We rode comfortably in a conversion van while they crammed in a bus. Beautiful walk through the jungle and then peaceful float down through the caves. Kids 6 - 15 loved it all. It was their favorite tour of the week.:) :) :) :) :)