Which is the best excursion for snorkeling?

[vg247]

I'm coming off the Dawn to Belize in March and wanted some advice for best snorkeling. From what I read Coral Breeze Tours offer great service and I cant choose between their "Snorkeling package" at Shark/Ray Alley and Coral Gardens on the Barrier Reef. Or their "Manatee Watch, Reef Snorkeling, and Beach Break" package.

 

I like to snorkel the best water in this region at the same time accommodate my spouse who rather lounges on a nice beach..so I'm not sure which of the two would be best for us?

 

Or whether I should book through NCL their Barrier Reef & Snorkel Island Beach Break excursion but it doesnt say where it takes you.

 

Overall we would like an unrushed time on the beach or snorkeling and would appreciate advice based on those preferences..thanks in advance

[Will in sunny FL]

IMHO, I'd go with Coral Breeze Tours for the very best in snorkeling without the ships crowd.

How about you book the snorkeling tour & for your wife, book her as just going to & from Caye Caulker & when the boat stops there on the way to the reef, she can get off & lounge there at the Paradise Restaraunt in their lounge chairs while you are less than one mile away snorkeling on the reef. Then you will join her for lunch when the group is finished snorkeling & they go to the Paradise for lunch & the return trip to the Tourist Village.

Email Mark at Coral Breeze Tours to conform this plan ?

Enjoy Belize.

Bill in FL

[vg247]

IMHO, I'd go with Coral Breeze Tours for the very best in snorkeling without the ships crowd.

How about you book the snorkeling tour & for your wife, book her as just going to & from Caye Caulker & when the boat stops there on the way to the reef, she can get off & lounge there at the Paradise Restaraunt in their lounge chairs while you are less than one mile away snorkeling on the reef. Then you will join her for lunch when the group is finished snorkeling & they go to the Paradise for lunch & the return trip to the Tourist Village.

Email Mark at Coral Breeze Tours to conform this plan ?

Enjoy Belize.

Bill in FL

 

Great advice Bill, thank you..let me correspond with Mark and see what options we can work out.

 

Many thanks,

Steve

[Will in sunny FL]

Great advice Bill, thank you..let me correspond with Mark and see what options we can work out.

Many thanks,

Steve"

 

Have a fun time on your snorkel trip & I'll bet that you will enjoy Heni & her crew & your wife will enjoy sunning on Caye Caulker. Hope it will be a sunny day for you both.

Happy to help.

Bill in FL

[vg247]

Great advice Bill, thank you..let me correspond with Mark and see what options we can work out.

Many thanks,

Steve"

 

Have a fun time on your snorkel trip & I'll bet that you will enjoy Heni & her crew & your wife will enjoy sunning on Caye Caulker. Hope it will be a sunny day for you both.

Happy to help.

Bill in FL

 

Many thanks again Bill...we can't wait now =)

 

Safe travels and many beautiful destinations ahead to you and yours...

[BoxerGal]

My husband and I, Sister-in-law and Mother-in-law did the Reef/Shark Ray Alley/Caye Caulker exercusion with Coral Breeze Tours last week. Ivar, Star and Javier were our guides. It was excellent!! The reef was amazing and swimming with the sharks and sting rays was exhilarating! They came through with everything promised on their website and then some!

 

My 85 yo Mother-in-law doesn't snorkel, but she joined us on the boat and enjoyed the sunshine while we snorkled. So your wife has that option as well. She'll just have to pay the $5 park entrance fee for the reef portion.

 

We got back to the pier more than an hour and a 1/2 before the last tender was to depart. True be told, I would have rather stayed on Caye Caulker for some of that extra time, but I understand the necessity of erring on the side of caution - which they did throughout the excursion.

 

This was one of the highlights of our cruise - you won't be disappointed!

 

Susan

[cdlu]

I'm coming off the Dawn to Belize in March and wanted some advice for best snorkeling. From what I read Coral Breeze Tours offer great service and I cant choose between their "Snorkeling package" at Shark/Ray Alley and Coral Gardens on the Barrier Reef. Or their "Manatee Watch, Reef Snorkeling, and Beach Break" package.

 

I like to snorkel the best water in this region at the same time accommodate my spouse who rather lounges on a nice beach..so I'm not sure which of the two would be best for us?

 

Or whether I should book through NCL their Barrier Reef & Snorkel Island Beach Break excursion but it doesnt say where it takes you.

 

Overall we would like an unrushed time on the beach or snorkeling and would appreciate advice based on those preferences..thanks in advance

 

 

I used Sea Sports Belize and did the Barrier Reef snorkel. We had a small group, they did not make us wear snorkel vests, we did a snorkel before and after lunch; we got our money's worth! I give them an A+

[vg247]

I can't thank you all enough for the feedback from your experiences =)

 

Just got back from some work trips and will sit down with my spouse this week to see which of the choices she likes most..I'm certain we will love em all thanks to everyone here!

[alwayscruising60]

Take a boat to Caye Caulker, that's a real paradise for snorkeling!:)

[Dale&Joan]

I just read several comments by people that said to skip any itinerary with Belize. They said the tender ports are horrible and take forever.

 

Did read a lot of good excursions. We are looking at a cruise with Carnival Magic in May. Another one goes to Montego Bay, Jamaica instead which does not look as exciting.

 

Any comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Dabaras]

I just read several comments by people that said to skip any itinerary with Belize. They said the tender ports are horrible and take forever.

 

Did read a lot of good excursions. We are looking at a cruise with Carnival Magic in May. Another one goes to Montego Bay, Jamaica instead which does not look as exciting.

 

Any comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Every port is unique to some degree. If you go in expecting a bad time or not doing research on what to expect, you will probably have a miserable time. If you go in with an open mind and research the things you like to do, you'll probably have fun. Don't let others make up your mind for you. Belize City is more industrial than beaches, which is why the organized excursion, Carnival or otherwise may be your best bet here. This may not be the port to walk out front, jump in a cab and tell the driver to show you the town. For me, the port to stay on board is Jamaica, but I've been several times, the diving isn't very good, the snorkeling isn't very good and I don't want a great deal on hash.

[BecciBoo]

Your best bet in your decision making process is to YouTube Belize/snorkeling....Goff's Caye, Caye Caulker, Shark/Ray Alley Snorkel, etc. and then look up Coral Breeze on trip advsor for reviews.

We are doing Goff's Caye for the same reasons as you, we both love to snorkel but I want to lounge on a white sand beach too (hard to find in Caye Caulker) Here are two videos and a shot of the beach at Goff's Caye

 

[MizDaisy]

Interesting to see that the beach portion has changed over the years to Caye Caulker. They used to go to Ambergris Caye.

 

I'll have to do some research. Thanks for the tips!

[vg247]

Thanks so much everyone: we have booked Victor Bodden for Roatan utilizing a personal tour guide for the day. Mainly we are just interested in a relaxing day on the beaches for fun in the sun and nothing more. Any input on which beaches and resort areas that we should ask the driver to take us? From my research and what Victor shared there are resorts offering day passes for chair, fresh water shower use, etc. I like to hear about some experiences as to which resorts are best for this? He mentioned they are capacity controlled but others on the forum have mentioned some were over crowded at Bananarama so it would be nice to hear more from you all on this..

 

We are booked with Coral Breeze in Belize for the snorkel excursion and decided to do the Tulum ruins booked via NCL, I hope we will have enough time to enjoy the beach at Tulum as well. Read that one barely has enough time to see the ruins and be in the beach, so it will be interesting how the days goes..

 

Many thanks again cruise experts..we are nervously excited, being first time cruisers!

[jgfs0323]

Hi VG247,

 

My fiance and I are taking this same cruise for our honeymoon. For our stop in Roatan, we also would like to hit the beach and snorkel. Currently, I am considering the Tabyana Beach Party, but if there is a better way to snorkel for less money, we are totally interested. Have you made a decision for your Roatan stop? Does it make sense to share a cab?

 

For our other stops, we are considering the Lamanai Ruins & River Safari excursion through NCL for Belize City. I read reviews stating that Belize is the place for visiting Mayan ruins out of all the stops on our trip. For Costa Maya, we are thinking of taking a cab ride to Mahahual. We are currently undecided for Cozumel, but exploring San Miguel or taking a trip to another beach is an option.

 

Please let me know if you are interested in meeting or talking about the cruise before we depart.

 

-Jason and Filiz

[vg247]

Hi VG247,

 

My fiance and I are taking this same cruise for our honeymoon. For our stop in Roatan, we also would like to hit the beach and snorkel. Currently, I am considering the Tabyana Beach Party, but if there is a better way to snorkel for less money, we are totally interested. Have you made a decision for your Roatan stop? Does it make sense to share a cab?

 

For our other stops, we are considering the Lamanai Ruins & River Safari excursion through NCL for Belize City. I read reviews stating that Belize is the place for visiting Mayan ruins out of all the stops on our trip. For Costa Maya, we are thinking of taking a cab ride to Mahahual. We are currently undecided for Cozumel, but exploring San Miguel or taking a trip to another beach is an option.

 

Please let me know if you are interested in meeting or talking about the cruise before we depart.

 

-Jason and Filiz

 

Jason and Filiz,

 

A big congratulations to you guys! Have you signed up for the Roll Call for our cruise, it's a great time to meet one another while we are on the ship in addition to other fellow cruisers from this forum.

 

After much feedback here, we booked for a private driver with Victor Bodden in Roatan. Went with Coral Breeze to snorkel in Belize, rerserved Maya Chan in Costa Maya, and lastly booked via NCL for the Tulum excursion for Cozumel.

 

Hope that helps, looking forward to meeting you both on board. Feel free to let us all know if you have questions along the way, I may have found answers to similar questions along my research which may help.

 

cheers..

[OCruisers]

If you enjoy snorkeling, the Barrier Reef is not to be missed! It's the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world. Snorkeling there is awesome! :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

[flames9]

We stayed a week on San Pedro Island starting on Feb 5th 2013 and had a wonderful time!! We did the Hol Chan marine Reserve and Shark ray alley and it was a great snorkeling experience!

 

Water is very clear and one gets to see a lot of fish. In Shark ray Alley, lo tof tame nurse sharks and sting rays!! And yes many people touch and hold them! You can get as close as you want. Saw large sea turtles. Was a great snorkeling time a true 5/5 excursion. For us (we were NOT on a cruise) we started at 0900 and was back at the hotel shortly after noon, so a total of 3 hrs, probably close to 2hrs 20 min snorkeling!!! Awesome time. We used Lil Alphonse as the company--well we did not actually pick them--our hotel did the booking!

 

If your looking for snorkeling where you see a lot of various fish, its great! Can't comment on anything else!

[AllAmericanAmy]

Thanks so much everyone: we have booked Victor Bodden for Roatan utilizing a personal tour guide for the day. Mainly we are just interested in a relaxing day on the beaches for fun in the sun and nothing more. Any input on which beaches and resort areas that we should ask the driver to take us? From my research and what Victor shared there are resorts offering day passes for chair, fresh water shower use, etc. I like to hear about some experiences as to which resorts are best for this? He mentioned they are capacity controlled but others on the forum have mentioned some were over crowded at Bananarama so it would be nice to hear more from you all on this..

 

Ummm - you're kinda in the wrong board for Roatan info! :) That being said... we just visited Roatan in January 2013 and had FRANKIE as driver (thru Victor Bodden - you ought to see if you can reserve him ... email Victor and ask. Frankie was GREAT). Frankie took us on brief tour of island, took my kids to SouthShore Ziplining, dropped me off to shop in West Bay, then drove us to Banarama resort. I did NOT pay a resort fee (look for my post on Roatan board - detailed info). I used the FREE access path NEXT to Banarama. Banarama or Fosters is where most people seem to get the day passes. Both resorts (I think) offer a package with transportation to & from port with their resort pass. If you don't want to make any stops and zip line or sight see, you could cancel Bodden and just go with that option.

 

 

If you want to snorkel - read the Roatan board. We snorkeled in front of Infinity Bay/Tabayana Beach and it was SPECTACULAR.) Then Frankie took us to grocery store to buy vanilla, coffee, etc.

 

Any other questions, let me know. I'll check tomorrow and reply ASAP since you cruise this week! Bon Voyage!!!!!

[vg247]

Ummm - you're kinda in the wrong board for Roatan info! :) That being said... we just visited Roatan in January 2013 and had FRANKIE as driver (thru Victor Bodden - you ought to see if you can reserve him ... email Victor and ask. Frankie was GREAT). Frankie took us on brief tour of island, took my kids to SouthShore Ziplining, dropped me off to shop in West Bay, then drove us to Banarama resort. I did NOT pay a resort fee (look for my post on Roatan board - detailed info). I used the FREE access path NEXT to Banarama. Banarama or Fosters is where most people seem to get the day passes. Both resorts (I think) offer a package with transportation to & from port with their resort pass. If you don't want to make any stops and zip line or sight see, you could cancel Bodden and just go with that option.

 

 

If you want to snorkel - read the Roatan board. We snorkeled in front of Infinity Bay/Tabayana Beach and it was SPECTACULAR.) Then Frankie took us to grocery store to buy vanilla, coffee, etc.

 

Any other questions, let me know. I'll check tomorrow and reply ASAP since you cruise this week! Bon Voyage!!!!!

 

Lol:) thank you so much Amy, that's what get for researching too much...got my boards mixed!

 

We are good to go for all the Dawn ports thanks to you and everyone here on CC

;) you guys are the best!