Lamanai or Xunantunich Excursion with Princess?

[GradUT]

We will be cruising on the Emerald Princess in December and are considering one of these two tours to the above-mentioned Mayan ruins. Have you taken either or both of these excursions with Princess? I am interested in knowing:

 

1) whether the time at the ruins was sufficient to see everything and to climb the ruins (which we will want to do).

 

2) whether there is any time to explore the ruins on your own

 

3) whether there is shopping time and, if so, how much? (We don't like shopping.)

 

Any other comments on these Princess excursions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[Coveguy4]

We did the Lamanai tour and really enjoyed it. Got to climb,great boat ride,very little shopping time,the jungle area added to the experence,howler monkeys,and a nice lunch to top it off thru Princess Tour.

[GradUT]

Thanks, Coveguy, for your useful information.

[mith]

I went on the Xunantunich tour in April. Fun tour, got to climb to the top of a really tall structure and you can see Guatemala from the top. No real time to do much walking around unguided on the tour. It is my favorite Mayan ruins so far, with Tulum being second favorite for how beautiful the site is. I have also been to Coba. Their is not much time for shopping due to the long bus travel times.

[Bruin Steve]

We've done Lamanai...and really enjoyed it...Loved the boat ride in...

Really not much to shop for, though...

[AKman2495]

We had booked Xunantunich for last November but we were rained out. After a month of rain in Belize, the river was too high to reach the site. Princess gave us a tour of Altuna HA instead, which we really enjoyed. We got to climb on some of the structures and the tour guides were most interesting in their discussions of the maya.

 

If you can't get to Xunantunich and are offered Altun HA, I say go for it.

[beauty1492]

We had booked Xunantunich for last November but we were rained out. After a month of rain in Belize, the river was too high to reach the site. Princess gave us a tour of Altuna HA instead, which we really enjoyed. We got to climb on some of the structures and the tour guides were most interesting in their discussions of the maya.

 

If you can't get to Xunantunich and are offered Altun HA, I say go for it.

 

same thing happen to us--but loved the Altun HA. go for it I think either would be great

[AKman2495]

same thing happen to us--but loved the Altun HA. go for it I think either would be great

 

The most amazing thing about Altun HA? It had been raining there for a month-in fact it rained whole we were there. The guide said reach down and feel the grass-it was moist but not wet! He explained that 2500 years ago the Mayans had developed a drainage system that was still working today-and it was a lot better than what was in the rest of the country!

[GradUT]

Thanks everyone for your comments. It looks like whichever excursion we choose (now including the option of Altun Ha), it will be a good one.

[nnrd79a]

The Wife and I have done both.

While both were great, we enjoyed Lamanai much better.

 

A quick rundown for both:

 

Lamani:

Bus ride,

Drop off at small area with bathrooms and locals selling things. (souvenir trinkets)

board a boat for a long but fun ride down a river.

Unload at Lamani at the river’s edge on a floating dock.

There are a few locals selling local wears off to the right of some covered pavilions. (One hut was selling a lot of handmade items and locally printed tees)

(You will have a little time to shop before lunch)

Great set of ruins, nice walk, lots of open space, and lots of varying structures.

There is a huge stepped pyramid that you are allowed to climb. (Original steps as built)

(When you get to the top, look for a small brass medallion hammered in the rock.

I was told that the medallion was placed there by a survey crew before the site was excavated.

They thought that they were just on top a very tall hill.)

Climb down and onto to another structure with two very large head carvings.

Back to the river, Lunch, boat ride back, bathrooms, bus, ship.

 

Pros: more isolated, fewer people, great photos (without random strangers standing in all your shots)

Possible Cons: Lots of waking. You need good knees, legs and stamina to climb to the top of the stepped pyramid.

 

Xunantunich:

Bus ride,

Drop off at side of road where locals are selling things. (souvenir trinkets)

Walk down to rivers edge where a cable attached hand crank ferry will take you across the river.

(You may be asked to help crank)

A van will be there to take you to the midpoint of the hill.

Bathrooms are available.

The van will take you the rest of the way to the ruins if you feel you cannot walk to the top.

Clear areas, with well-maintained open spaces.

Large temple you can climb. (Climb is much easier than the stepped pyramid in Lamani)

Some of the temple steps have been modified, and sometimes newer set of steps run parallel to the original steps to make it easier for tourists to climb around.

Down the hill, back to the van, back across the river, back to the bus, back to the ship.

 

Pros: Easier climb, easier walk, lots of huge maintained open spaces.

Cons: Not as many excavated building, lots of tourists, hard to get good photos as tour groups are coming and going constantly.

 

Hope this helps!

Edited August 29, 2014 by nnrd79a

[rockdoctor]

The boat ride in to Lamanai was like an amusement park ride! Hold on to your hat. Very few people is always a nice plus. The ruins were impressive (I had no difficulty climbing and I'm 39+)but The Howler Monkeys were the show stopper. Small but nice shopping area. Nice lunch.

 

Xunantunich was more crowded, the ruins looked less original and the trip in is less entertaining.

[GradUT]

NNRD, your comments were really helpful. I really appreciate your taking the time to lay it out so well for me. Thanks to both you and Rockdoctor. (The boat ride sounds fun!)

 

I've made my decision--it's definitely Lamanai because we love uncrowded places.

Edited August 30, 2014 by GradUT

[themerle]

Thanks for starting this post. I have been looking at these two excursions and the different comments has helped me choose. I'm

going to go to Lamanai this time. We've been to Altun-Ha and really enjoyed those ruins.

[preschool teacher]

Nnrd79a.....

 

That was the best review of the ruins I have ever seen

Thank you!!!!!

[crackupforlaughs]

We did Lamanai and really enjoyed it. Not a lot of time for shopping, though. As said there are a few huts on site, and then back at the pier before you get the tender there are some shops. I wish I had had more time at the pier shops, but oh well. Got a nice Chocmool limestone thing.

 

Access, boat ride, etc. is as others have said. Hopefully you will get Gus, who was our guide through the Princess excursion (due to the length of the trip and the possibility of getting back late, I would only book through the cruise line).

 

But, beware of being at the end of the line for the bus -- we ended up in the last seat by the rest room -- and it is a long ride, and let's just say the smell was a bit nauseating.

 

The howler monkeys were great... they almost seemed to be on cue -- so much so that we joked they must be animatronic (sp?) they started and ended so well... Disneyland has jaded us... :):eek:

[philv]

nnra79a and rockdoctor laid it out really well. We did Lamani and it was great. Weigh those factors and you can't go wrong. The boat ride to Lamani was really something though.

 

Additional note: I was a little skeptical about Belize before going there. Very poor country, lots of crime. However, our tour guide was fantastic. Mayan and Hispanic gentleman. Very proud of his country. Talked about the good and bad but left me with a positive impression of Belize. I'd like to go there again sometime.

[JimmyVWine]

Lamanai is the best ship's excursion we have ever taken. It is a full day, so while I normally seek out private tours, timing is tight here, so to eliminate any worries about missing th boat, stick with the ship's tour with the guarantee that they will wait for all passengers to return. Our river boat broke down on the return trip and we had to have another boat deployed to pick us up. Still got back in plenty of time. But had this been with a private group, I would have been nervous.

[JimAOk1945]

We did the Lamanai and River excursion. We were not on a Princess cruise, but I just wanted to say how impressive it was.

 

My wife took a lot of pictures. If you would like to see the slide show that she made, you can click on the link below. The slide show will play as soon as the page opens, but you can also go through the pictures by clicking on the thumbnails one at a time.

 

Lamanai Shore Excursion

 

Happy Cruising!

[satxdiver]

The Wife and I have done both.

While both were great, we enjoyed Lamanai much better.

 

A quick rundown for both:

 

Lamani:

Bus ride,

Drop off at small area with bathrooms and locals selling things. (souvenir trinkets)

board a boat for a long but fun ride down a river.

Unload at Lamani at the river’s edge on a floating dock.

There are a few locals selling local wears off to the right of some covered pavilions. (One hut was selling a lot of handmade items and locally printed tees)

(You will have a little time to shop before lunch)

Great set of ruins, nice walk, lots of open space, and lots of varying structures.

There is a huge stepped pyramid that you are allowed to climb. (Original steps as built)

(When you get to the top, look for a small brass medallion hammered in the rock.

I was told that the medallion was placed there by a survey crew before the site was excavated.

They thought that they were just on top a very tall hill.)

Climb down and onto to another structure with two very large head carvings.

Back to the river, Lunch, boat ride back, bathrooms, bus, ship.

 

Pros: more isolated, fewer people, great photos (without random strangers standing in all your shots)

Possible Cons: Lots of waking. You need good knees, legs and stamina to climb to the top of the stepped pyramid.

 

Xunantunich:

Bus ride,

Drop off at side of road where locals are selling things. (souvenir trinkets)

Walk down to rivers edge where a cable attached hand crank ferry will take you across the river.

(You may be asked to help crank)

A van will be there to take you to the midpoint of the hill.

Bathrooms are available.

The van will take you the rest of the way to the ruins if you feel you cannot walk to the top.

Clear areas, with well-maintained open spaces.

Large temple you can climb. (Climb is much easier than the stepped pyramid in Lamani)

Some of the temple steps have been modified, and sometimes newer set of steps run parallel to the original steps to make it easier for tourists to climb around.

Down the hill, back to the van, back across the river, back to the bus, back to the ship.

 

Pros: Easier climb, easier walk, lots of huge maintained open spaces.

Cons: Not as many excavated building, lots of tourists, hard to get good photos as tour groups are coming and going constantly.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks for the info. We just changed our booking to Xunantunich.

[MadMouser]

We did Lamanai on our cruise and really enjoyed it in spite of the cold rain. Seriously, we were drowned rats by the end of the ride back to the bus. But it was a lot of fun, with really great temples and buildings to check out.

[PenguinLife]

We did it through Princess also last year, and it was a great tour, due to bad luck we did have some problems, one of the river speed boats lost an engine and we had to off load some of their passengers onto our boat making seating tight and delaying things a bit, then our bus had an inner rear tire blow out on the way back to the pier and could not get over 20mph, so we were about an hour after the last scheduled tender returning. Compared to the other ruins we have done Lamanai is very over grown in a mostly forested area, with lots of howler monkeys in the trees, footing along the walking paths also requires your undivided attention.