Excursion Question

[roothy123]

I waffled on signing up for an excursion, and a little over a week before the cruise starts, I am finding out that signing up for the excursion is not available. It is one of those all day excursions, probably very popular, so I guess there was a lot of interest. I am now wondering what the chances are of someone canceling his or her reservation in the mean time, and/or Oceania adding more spaces. Does anyone have a clue as to what my chances are of going on this excursion? If it matters, it's the excursion to the Lamanai ruins in Belize on the Mayan Mystique cruise on Marina. Other excursions are available, so I guess it's not simply a matter of it being too late to sign up for that particular excursion.

[LHT28]

When you board go to directly destination services they usually have forms on the counter that you can sign up for the excursions

Fill it out & drop in the box there

They will let you know if/when a cancellation occurs or you will receive tickets

You can always go when someone is on duty there and follow up

[kittya]

It really is better and more fun to go online and find a personal guide who will meet you at the ship and take you where YOU want to go and stay as long as YOU want to stay at a particular place, without waiting for laggards to come back to the bus. It works!

[roothy123]

kittya, Lamanai is apparently 2 hours away from Belize City, so it is an all-day trip. I'm a little nervous about doing this on my own, given the time and distance involved, plus the fact that Belize is a tender port, and as an independent, I may not be able to get on the first tender going ashore. However, I am now looking for excursions/guides that might be available should the Oceania excursion fall through for me.

 

LHT28, I'll do what you suggest. I don't usually care that much about the shore excursions, as I frequently do things on my own (although with a lot of pre-planning!), but this is one time when I'd feel a lot better if I could go with O.

[Mura]

Roothy, besides what you say at a late date it's pretty nigh impossible to find people to go with you!

 

I had a discussion on another thread (I think) where we were very disappointed with a trip to Lamanai from Crooked Tree (we weren't on a cruise) but that is back in 1995, and several people chimed in to say that more recently it's much more worth a trip. When we were there, there wasn't much to see. I know that has changed.

 

Back in the day I had a contact for Belize and if you would like I can try to contact him. (He was in Brooklyn, NY, and helped us plan our independent trip to Belize.) Maybe he would have some information for you. Let me know if you want me to try.

 

Lyn is right about a private tour being better in terms of time ...

 

I would suggest you hunt up other possible passengers on board, but that has never worked for us!

 

Mura

[loum140]

We were in Belize on Regatta a few years ago. We decided that Lamanai was a bit further than we wanted to attempt on our own. When the tender arrived at the dock there were numerous tour operators soliciting business. We teamed with another couple from the ship and went instead to other Mayan ruins (Altun Ha) about 45 mins. distant. (Sorry, having a Senior Moment - can't remember what it cost) The driver stayed with us while we explored, then drove us back to the ship. It was a terrific excursion.

[roothy123]

Just in case someone in the future reads this, I called Oceania and they have a waiting list. It looks doubtful that I will be going, but just wanted to let people know that calling Oceania and getting wait-listed is an option. They have 31 people on there and can't add more, so it doesn't look good, but I'll keep trying!