X-Stream Cave Tubing REview

[hokie78]

The review of this excursion (privately booked in advance online) can be summed up in just 6 words: Do it! Do it! Do it!

We were met at the tender dock, settled up the payment after paying a deposit on-line and we were off. There was a grand total of 9 of us--all from Enchantment--loaded into a van with Emmanuel as our guide. About an hour's trip through the Belize contryside, and we were at the cave park. We got our tubes, life vests (required) and miner's light and started off on the 45 minute walk up the trail where we would put in and float down stream through the caves. The walk was through a gorgeous, lush, jungle-like area, with lots of stops to talk about the indigenous trees and plants used by locals for medicinal and nutritional purposes.

The flow of the river can be described as "lazy," with some spots of "rapids" which are really just a small step up from lazy. You first float through a rather long and cavernous cave, and man it IS dark!! Lay back on you tube, let the light shine on the ceiling and enjoy all the neat formations. The guide makes sure no one goes astray or has any trouble. Upon exiting that cave, we encountered other groups just putting in for their ride through just a single cave. Not only that, be these groups had to be 30-50 people easy. Far from intimate. We floated on down to the next cave, a bit shorter than the first I think, and a bit more twisty and curvy. Very cool!! We finally got out at the exact spot we first encountered the river, and only a few hundered paces back to "camp." This excursion inludes only a bottle of water and some fresh fruit at the end, as opposed to a full lunch. But if you want something more substantial, you can order a lunch before you start the hike, and it's ready upon your return. It's a standard package for all. Here's what you get. A quarter--or maybe a half--of barbequed chicken, rice, red beans, a slice of fried plantain, a small salad and a hunk of garlic toast. The cost? 5 bucks for all this. Get it!! The cost of this excursion is $60 each vs $99 through RCCL for one less cave and tons of people (although you may get the lunch included--don't know). This was the highlight of our cruise.

Book X-Stream and you won't be sorry.

[immargaret]

We did the X-treme cave tubing last week and really enjoyed it. It was a bit of work paddling the tubes and you may be exhausted when your finished. We had Tommy as a guide, and met up with Richard once we were in the water. No one in our tour was required to wear a life vest, so it may depend on how the river is running at the time. We had a group of 11 and joined Reggies group of 14, compared to the 130 people on NCL's cave tubing excursion.

We got to see 2 types of bats in the dry caves we walked through.

 

Until we cruise again........NCL SEA 4/17/04

[cruiseylover]

Hi

Thanks for your reviews on X-Stream. It sounds like fun. Can you tell us the website please. Thanks

 

7/98 Discovery

10/98 Fantasy

10/00 Fantasy

10/01 Fantasy

10/02 Fascination

11/29/03 Glory-Eastern

10/09/04 Glory-Western

 

Days til the Glory!

[hokie78]

www.belizecruiseexcursions.com

 

Enjoy!

[ellen sonnier]

Your review sounds great. We will be on the Elation and would like to know if you were able to tender in early enough for the trip and if this was any problem. I know the ships like to let their excursion groups off on the first tenders. What time did you get back to the Tourism village and did you have any time to do any shopping before tendering back?

I checked with Xtreme for availability which is just four weeks away and they do have space. I will probably go ahead and make deposit.

[aaronk1956]

We booked through xtreme directly and did the Cave tubing on 4/20. The excursion took 5 1/2 hours in total, including a little time to have lunch afterwards. Like some else said the lunch is worth it. Don't forget to try a Belikin Beer. There wasn't time for much shopping once we got back to the pier becuase the last tender was only about 40 minutes later.

 

I think the tour took a little longer than usual because the river was low and slow. You had to paddle yourself along most of the time.