Belize excursion with a 3 and 5 year old

[bsharynu]

We are traveling on the Carnival Legend in December with a 3 and 5 year old. We have heard mixed things about Belize but would like to do an age appropriate excursion with them. What do you recommend?

[Colorado Kat]

The zoo is supposed to be quite nice.

[cruisergrandma]

We took our 4-year-old granddaughters and our 13-year-old grandson along with the 4 adults to the zoo and all of us loved it! I highly recommend it. It is quite different than what you see in the US. All of the animals are native to Belize and it is more primitive.

[BeccaStorm]

What about Goff's Caye , its a beautiful beach and kids 4 and under are free. You don't have to snorkel to love this location, its really beautiful. Bring a few shovels and its the best place for sand castles;)

[rjm11]

we booked Bannister Island with our 4 and 6 year olds last year, and really enjoyed it (even though it was raining a little). It was a ship sponsored excursion (that was simply listed as Beach Break on NCL- but the picture was of the island).... as a bonus, they tendered us directly from the ship to Bannister, so we didn't have to go all the way to port (tender trip was only about 10 minutes to Bannister). On the island, there was a very nice beach and swimming area- tons of chairs, a bar and grill that served kid pleasers such as fries and nachos and such, and free use of tandem kayaks that the kids liked trying out. It was a morning thing- we were back on the boat for lunch by about 1:00. The water was very calm, shallow, and clear, though there wasn't anything there to see if you were snorkeling (though we tried).... just sea grass and starfish. Kids loved swimming in it though, and the whole thing was very nice. We are going again this year, and I'm undecided only because they are pretty into snorkeling now, and we might try to find something with more of that- but as a family beach day it was great.

[bsharynu]

There definitely aren't a lot of excrsion options in Belize for the little ones. My husband really wants to do the ruins which looks to be a 4-5 hour tour. Wondering if the kids will be bored or it is a long time on a bus? There is also a ruins/beach trip in Cozumel and I wonder if that is a happy middle ground to see ruins and then have some beach time.

[PelicanBill]

Goff's Caye was the choice we made when we stopped there on Carnival Glory, our daughter's first cruise when she was age 6. The place was so magical that on the way back in the excursion boat, she said "Let's go to another place we've never been!"

[radsailor]

We just got back last week and did Bannister Island with a 4, 7 and 15 year old. It is nice to just tender straight to the island. The beach is okay (lots of shells so take water shoes). The shallow water was muddy/murky, but then cleared up. Didn't see fish, but lots of starfish.

 

There is a bar/restaurant, but service was really slow.

 

The 2 little ones had fun, but I think my 15 year old was a little bored.

 

Just my 2 cents.