Cave Tubing Review..Coral Breeze..WOW!!

[cruisercathy]

Just returned from the Carnival Valor...7/24/05 sailing. I had prebooked online our excursion with Coral Breeze for Cave Tubing. All is can say it was UnBelizeable........

 

The tender process worked fine...go and get your tender tickets and relax.....Coral Breeze met us on the dock we waited about 15 minutes and off we went with our guide Carlos "Speedy" Gonzalez.....Another family was assigned to go with us so there was a total of 13.....We were 8, they were 5. The van ride was about 40 minutes,,,,then on to a gravel road for 6 miles...very bumpy......Bathroom Break and off we went...picked up our tubes and head lamps for the 2 mile hike.....I am not in shape but I survived the hike...it was very hot.....We arrived at the river, you have your choice of jumping in or getting in the river by holding a rope and sitting in your tube. We hooked our feet into the person ahead of us to make a train. It was awesome........when we hit the rapids...we let go of the train.....and then hooked up again. I do have to say...we had a wonderful guide...when we came across the Carnival tour.......it was like a free for all..they just got in the water and went crazy....It was so relaxing doing what we did with our guide....When we got to the end of the tubing we hiked a bit back...(not much) and had a great lunch....all for $59....compared to Carnivals...$95 and they don;t do the entire caves.....

 

i would highly recommend this tour. This was the first time I have booked an independent tour and I will do it again........Saved time and money and it was very personable.Ask for Speedy as your guide.........He was very informative about life in Belize

[SunFunCruiser]

We also went the same day as you Cathy. Too bad we didn't get to meet. I did see Lee and family while waiting on the dock.

We had Travis. He was awesome!!! made us feel very safe. My 8 year old son did fine. Travis kept a watchful eye on him because he knew I was nervous about Kevin going.

 

We had a blast, it was the highlight of the cruise.

I couldn't believe people paid what they did for that Carnival tour.

They had 465 people on it. We had 13. Travis would wait for them all to pass so we could enjoy our tour. We also did the two caves while they did one.

The hike was nothing. Travis was also very informative. Told us a lot of great info about Belize, the people and the nature along the drive & the hike.

 

Lunch was wonderful!!!

 

Travis even made an emergency restroom stop at his Aunts on the way back! LOL

One fun thing we did was get glow necklaces and bracelets for everyone. The kids got a kick out of them while in the dark caves.

[Susky]

Guess what? I was on that tour, too...but my group (7 of us, and another family of 6) was led by Ivar (Marchand). We had a great time!

 

From seeing your reviews, I can see that Coral Breeze runs an consistently excellent program.

[myquest23]

We too used Coral Breeze for the cave tubing - Junior even told us we were the best group! My family of three joined Lee and his group to make up our tour and it was fantastic. Did the jump entry (why?? HaVve I lost my senses?) and it was grerat from there until we got back on the ship. They have a great team there as it seems everyone had a good group. I can't imagine 465 folks going down together - lesson learned for next time.

I enjoyed the lunch (and cold beer) but did get ill that night. I am usually an iron stomach and I did not even eat any of the termites - looked tasty though. Just wondered if anyone else ended up with a bellyache.

[Susky]

Not that I can attribute to the food. I did start having...well...bathroom issues...after Roatan. Toward the end of the week, a few of the kids came up with what might be the infamous "cruise ship virus."

[Hockeymom4]

this sounds wonderful...I love the idea of the glow necklaces! They are cheap too if I get them at like, Oriental Trading...I have to find the link for this. My only question is...can my 4 year old sit on daddys lap? I read in another thread, a 2 year old had done this...we would bring her own life jacket...

Oh how long is the tour total...??

[Susky]

I think one young man in our group was in the 5-7 range, and I think his father had him in his lap. Kind of worried me a little, considering the walk up (wet, uneven, muddy, etc) and the potential for problems in the water. Fortunately, the water was at a good level, and we had no major concerns.

[Susky]

Oh...I just saw this on the Coral Breeze Cave Tubing page.

 

You must be 8 years or older to participate.

[cruisercathy]

We had a 10 year old in the group...........She had a tough time doing the 2 mile hike. ........I would not recommend it for the young ones unless you want to be carrying them.

 

As for the virus...one of our group had a one day thingy...thought it was from sour milk.......but I have heard from 3 others in our group who came home with a stomach thingy.....I came homw with a rotten head cold...had a tough time with the ears on the plane.........

[Susky]

I think 4 kids and maybe an adult had the stomach thing. I do have the head cold right now, and I haven't gotten a real cold in the past 2 years (really!).

[SunFunCruiser]

I have been stomach sick since I have been back. I'm thinking too many frozen drinks at Fat Tuesdays.

 

I did get the glow necklaces at oriental trading.

 

Anyway, my son is 8. It was difficult to keep an eye out for him. Travis did a great job watching him and keeping him with us. The water was fairly low, but I can't imagine it being much higher and trying to keep him with us. The hike was no problem. He did manage to get stuck on a tree branch on the way down teh rapids, but one of the river rats helped him get lose. I wouldn't advise a child much younger to participate. I think extreme has a kid's version.

[oceanvac]

hi guys

 

thought I'd put my 2 cents in of what I thought of Coral Breeze;

Would like you to know that the cave tubing experience was the best excursion we had during our cruise. Our guide, Junior, was very informative and made sure we were all together all the time. I HIGHLY recommend Coral Breeze cave tubing for anyone looking for a wonderful personal and safe excursion.

 

Lee

[SunFunCruiser]

hi guys

 

thought I'd put my 2 cents in of what I thought of Coral Breeze;

Would like you to know that the cave tubing experience was the best excursion we had during our cruise. Our guide, Junior, was very informative and made sure we were all together all the time. I HIGHLY recommend Coral Breeze cave tubing for anyone looking for a wonderful personal and safe excursion.

Lee

 

 

Hi Lee,

It's especially fun when you're on the dock sticking tender numbers on the backs of people you don't even know, huh? LOL

[emmaco]

Coral Breeze does sound good.....anybody ever heard of passengers not making it back in time to the ship? Worried about that!!! Thanks in advance!:confused:

[SunFunCruiser]

Coral Breeze does sound good.....anybody ever heard of passengers not making it back in time to the ship? Worried about that!!! Thanks in advance!:confused:

 

They said they have never missed a ship. Can you imagine what that would do to their business? Someone would spread that all over every message board and they would be out of business in no time.

We really dilly dallied and still made it with plenty of time to spare.

[vicocala]

I booked today for August 30th. I am traveling solo, without the wife. Hopefully we will be back in time, that is my biggest fear as well.

[taillon]

Don't worry about missing the ship...they will get you back in plenty of time. It is a reputable company that I trust completely! You will have the best time!:D

[oceanvac]

Hi Lee,

It's especially fun when you're on the dock sticking tender numbers on the backs of people you don't even know, huh? LOL

Hi Cheryl

 

Whats even funnier is I was about to pay you the money due as I saw you with the envelope in your hand and thought you were collecting for Coral Breeze.

Hope all is well

Lee

[SunFunCruiser]

Hi Cheryl

 

Whats even funnier is I was about to pay you the money due as I saw you with the envelope in your hand and thought you were collecting for Coral Breeze.

Hope all is well

Lee

 

 

I could have made a fortune that day. Someone else tried to hand me money too. I must look important <G>.

Everything is great except for vacation withdrawl. Say hello to Barbara.

[vicocala]

I know I am getting old because all the stuff about time zones messed with my head. :confused:

 

I will be on the Glory during the August 27th cruise. According to our itenerary we will be in Belize between 8 AM and 5 PM. So what time due I arrive at the meeting place, 9:30 or 10:30, ships time. Also what time should we return, ships time. Thanks.

[Susky]

I'm not sure how the Glory does things...I can only tell you how we did things on the Valor. During our first day at sea, we moved our clocks back one hour. When we arrived in Belize, ship time was one hour ahead of local Belize time. That is to say, my watch said it was 11:00 AM, and the local watches in Belize said it was 10:00 AM.

 

The funny (well, not so funny) thing was that even our cruise director (Josh Riffe) didn't know about the time difference. When we were lined up for our tender stickers, I asked him about it, and he said ship time and Belize time were the same. Whatta putz! ;)

 

I was in a panic, worrying about making my excursion...but it turned out that the hour difference came in handy, as I was almost right on time.

 

But it's probably a good rule of thumb to try and get the earliest tender you can...

[taillon]

Ditto on what Susky said! We were on the Elation and the night before we got to Belize they told us to set our watches one hour back. So you get an extra hour of sleep or fun!! Belize is in the same time zone but they do not do daylight savings like we do.

[vicocala]

OK,

 

So I should be there at 9:30 by my Eastern Daylight Savings Time?

[SunFunCruiser]

It was so confusing & I have no idea why they do it this way.

Belize time, 2 hours behind EST.

Ship time 1 hour behind EST.

[vicocala]

Ok,

 

 

Thanks I have it now. Sorry I have been so dense the last day or two. I guess it comes from never having left the east coast and never having dealt with multiple time zones.

 

The ship should change to Belize time in Belize!