Snorkeling - Coral or CCL?

[chauncy's wife]

I am having the hardest time trying to decide whether to go with Coral Breezes & do the Coral Gardens/Shark Ray Alley snorkeling or go with Carnival's Sergeant's Cay snorkeling excursion. This is my dilema....I want to go to Caye Caulker so it's a no brainer that I would go w/ Coral Breezes however I saw someone's pics of their Coral Breezes excursion by someone of this board & it didn't seem like there was an abundance of colorful marine life where they take you. Most of the coral was brown in the pics & there were few fish. I haven't found alot of reviews on Sergeant's Cay but it would seems to me that since it is further out & less snorkled by tours that the snorkeling is better. Am I wrong in my thinking? The Shark Ray Alley part really doesn't matter to me. The idea of having sea creatures that big, that close is kinda freaky. I'm up for it & think it would be neat but I could take it or leave it. Also, if I do take the Sergeant's Cay excursion, I would get back to the ship at 11:30 am. Would I then have anough time to go to Caye Caulker for 2 or 3 hours (after eating lunch on the ship quickly) & still make it back to the ship on time? I've read so much on how you should leave CC by 1 pm or you're cutting it to close. My ship doesn't leave port until 6 pm so I'm thinking I've got plenty of time. Any help would be appreciated.

[crewsweeper]

IMO, and others may differ, do the Coral Breezes and take in Caye Caulker. Ship excursions tend to be crowded. Snorkeling is a large group and you'll be in regulated to only go with the guides and only snorkel to and from sites as fast as the slowest swimmer. There's a tendency on these type of excursions for non-snorkelers/non-swimmers to try it out and they tie up the guides.

 

 

While you'll be back at the ship between 11:30 and Noon ship time, you will not time to catch a tender to the tender dock at the Tourist Village, walk over to the water taxi station, catch a water taxi to Caye Caulker, eat lunch, catch a water taxi back to Belize City, walk back to the Tourist Village and catch the last tender to the ship. Just look at the water taxi schedule for times (and Belize time is currently 1 hour behind US Eastern Time, as observed on CCL ships)

 

http://belizewatertaxi.com/rates-schedule

 

 

If you want to go to Caye Caulker, go to Caye Caulker and skip the snorkeling. Or do the Coral Breeze excursion.

[pitz0005]

It all depends what your are looking for. The below thread has some good differing thoughts. It should help you decide if it suits you. Different stokes for different folks. I would suggest you read the entire thread even though it is quite lengthy. Good luck and enjoy your day in belize:).

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1553628

[Will in sunny FL]

Keep in mind that if you cruise from the east coast, EST, Belize will be one hour behind ships time. If you leave from N/O or Texas your ships time will be the same as Belize. And, if you cruise during DST Belize will be two hours behind. Keep this in mind when planning your day.

We have used Coral Breeze Tours for lots of years now & have always had a super time of this snorkel tour & enjoyed the local lunch on Caye Caulker. The ships snorkeling tour is like a cattle herd - IMHO.

Enjoy Belize.

Bill in FL