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NCL's Sharks, Rays & Island Getaway


mitsugirly
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I have read a lot about Shark Ray Alley over on the Belize board and had decided this is what we wanted to do while in Belize this time around. (After all, it's the hubby's BD and I wanted to give him something special to remember, even if he comes home with 1 leg missing :D) <---totally just kidding...or am I? :p

 

Anyhow, after a long debate, we decided to book this as a NCL excursion because we desperately wanted to do this excursion with our cruise buddies, who would only agree to do it if it was done using the ship. No problems.

 

However, I don't really see very many people actually talk about the SHIP excursion itself. I have read hundreds of reviews from people that loved shark ray alley on private excursions....but what about those of you that have actually done it with NCL?

 

Tell me your thoughts....

 

1) Where you in a big group and felt crowded or not enough personal attention? Or opposite?

 

2) Did they actually entice the sharks and rays to come over to you (with food and such, like I have heard others mention)? Or where they hardly any around because they did not feed them?

 

3) Did you actually get to touch/hold them? Or did they not get close enough?

 

4) How long did you spend there?

 

5) Where there a lot of stingrays there as well? (Like at the sandbar in Grand Cayman).

 

6) Is this a sandbar like Grand Cayman?

 

7) Did you get to do any snorkeling after the shark swim? (Like at the barrier reef...even if it's at the edge?)

 

8) How much time did you get to spend at Caye Caulker?

 

9) Where is a good place to eat at Caye Caulker? What prices can I expect to pay while there? What type of food?

 

10) What is there to do at Caye Caulker?

 

11) I have seen people mention going to see the tarpon fish and feeding them. Does this happen with the NCL tour?

 

 

Any other information you can offer on this excursion would be appreciated. You all know me...I'm a planner and need as much information as possible. :D (In return, you will get one heck of a review when I return). ;)

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we are doing a different excursion in Belize, Barrier Reef & Snorkel Island Beach Break , but, i have studied nurse sharks quite a bit here in Fla. The reason they are with the rays is that the rays are one of the primary food sources for nurse sharks ... We see them alot at Caladesi island in Fla. also at 3 Rooker bar in Fla.

here is a little reading material about them ..

 

Behavior and diet[edit]

Nurse sharks are nocturnal animals, spending the day in large inactive groups of up to 40 individuals. Hidden under submerged ledges or in crevices within the reef, the nurse sharks seem to prefer specific resting sites and will return to them each day after the night's hunting. By night, the sharks are largely solitary; they spend most of their time rifling through the bottom sediments in search of food. Their diet consists primarily of crustaceans, molluscs, tunicates, sea snakes, and other fish, particularly stingrays.

 

They are thought to take advantage of dormant fish which would otherwise be too fast for the sharks to catch; although their small mouths limit the size of prey items, the sharks have large throat cavities which are used as a sort of bellows valve. In this way nurse sharks are able to suck in their prey. Nurse sharks are also known to graze algae and coral.

 

Nurse sharks have been observed resting on the bottom with their bodies supported on their fins, possibly providing a false shelter for crustaceans which they then ambush and eat.[4]

 

Nurse sharks are able to respire while stationary by pumping water through their mouths and out gills.

 

Here is the whole link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_shark

They dont seem to bother people, but i believe from curiosity , when we see them, they come around .. usually when shelling in early mornings when your splashing around some ... when they come around me, i try not to make a bunch of sudden movements and they seem to stay around alot, but, then they tend to swim away real fast ...

 

Also, when we vacation in the keys, at Islamorada, we go feed the tarpons, and if you have never done that, it's a blast, and first couple a times, you will jump, holler, smile , etc, etc ..

 

check this out

 

have fun :)

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we are doing a different excursion in Belize, Barrier Reef & Snorkel Island Beach Break , but, i have studied nurse sharks quite a bit here in Fla. The reason they are with the rays is that the rays are one of the primary food sources for nurse sharks ... We see them alot at Caladesi island in Fla. also at 3 Rooker bar in Fla.

here is a little reading material about them ..

 

Behavior and diet[edit]

Nurse sharks are nocturnal animals, spending the day in large inactive groups of up to 40 individuals. Hidden under submerged ledges or in crevices within the reef, the nurse sharks seem to prefer specific resting sites and will return to them each day after the night's hunting. By night, the sharks are largely solitary; they spend most of their time rifling through the bottom sediments in search of food. Their diet consists primarily of crustaceans, molluscs, tunicates, sea snakes, and other fish, particularly stingrays.

 

They are thought to take advantage of dormant fish which would otherwise be too fast for the sharks to catch; although their small mouths limit the size of prey items, the sharks have large throat cavities which are used as a sort of bellows valve. In this way nurse sharks are able to suck in their prey. Nurse sharks are also known to graze algae and coral.

 

Nurse sharks have been observed resting on the bottom with their bodies supported on their fins, possibly providing a false shelter for crustaceans which they then ambush and eat.[4]

 

Nurse sharks are able to respire while stationary by pumping water through their mouths and out gills.

 

Here is the whole link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_shark

They dont seem to bother people, but i believe from curiosity , when we see them, they come around .. usually when shelling in early mornings when your splashing around some ... when they come around me, i try not to make a bunch of sudden movements and they seem to stay around alot, but, then they tend to swim away real fast ...

 

Also, when we vacation in the keys, at Islamorada, we go feed the tarpons, and if you have never done that, it's a blast, and first couple a times, you will jump, holler, smile , etc, etc ..

 

check this out

 

have fun :)

 

Thanks for the info and the little neat lecture of the sharks. I'm not really too worried about them, but like to try to scare the hubby a bit just to keep him on his toes (or toe-less maybe? :p :D). Just kidding.

 

In that video....did that man have blood all over both of his hands from the tarpons??? :eek: I'm not so sure I'll be feeding them if that's the case. OUCH! But they will be neat to watch for sure. I'll leave the feeding up to the guide. :p

 

 

I would still really like to hear from someone that has done the actual NCL excursion for this. I really want to know their thoughts.

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mitsugirly, the excursion sounds interesting and fun.

 

My DD is my hero and she would do this on a mom and daughter cruise with me. I am interested in knowing the information as well. We have another short cruise booked for next year but she mentioned Belize and a longer cruise for our future. My favorite DD/DM travel moment, "hey mom look there is a lion cub, you always wanted to hold one." And I did..:D

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he was going to extreme, just hold the bait (fishes) up off the water about 3 ft or so, and wait, (the wait is the suspence) .. lol when they bust out of the water, i'm sure you will drop fish and pull hands away, (its the natural reaction), but it makes for some real nice pictures, but, it takes alot of feeding to get a real good picture, maybe a video of it all ...

There is really nothing to it, its fun and not dangerous, he was letting tarpon take his hand in mouth, and really, its just a bunch of scratches ... check out you tube and you will see, there is a whole lot of video ...:)

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mitsugirly, the excursion sounds interesting and fun.

 

My DD is my hero and she would do this on a mom and daughter cruise with me. I am interested in knowing the information as well. We have another short cruise booked for next year but she mentioned Belize and a longer cruise for our future. My favorite DD/DM travel moment, "hey mom look there is a lion cub, you always wanted to hold one." And I did..:D

 

I really can't wait. I was just hoping to hear from someone...anyone....that has done this using NCL. I know that taking a ship excursion is a lot different than doing it with a vendor on the island. I am really hoping for a good experience.

 

If I can't find anyone that has done this, I guess I will be the first to review it when I return and can let you know. :D

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I really can't wait. I was just hoping to hear from someone...anyone....that has done this using NCL. I know that taking a ship excursion is a lot different than doing it with a vendor on the island. I am really hoping for a good experience.

 

If I can't find anyone that has done this, I guess I will be the first to review it when I return and can let you know. :D

 

I will watch for your review:)

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  • 4 weeks later...

What I know is VERY old information, but since you aren't getting anything better, I'll share it. We took this tour through NCL over 10 years ago. At that time we went on a smallish speed boat to the reef area. My guess is that there were maybe 15-20 other people on our boat. When we got to the snorkel spot there were a lot of other similar sized boats clustered rather close together. It seemed that no matter who you booked the snorkel trip with, you ended up in the same place. Some people from some boats threw food in the water to attract the sharks. It doesn't matter, they were certainly there. So were the rays.

 

The area where we snorkeled was shallow, sandy, and had a little sea grass. Not a coral reef. Because it is quite a long way from shore there is a bit of a current, but it was calm the day we were there. It was not like Grand Cayman in that "shallow" was maybe 10 feet deep, not knee deep, and there weren't a lot of kids standing around in the water squealing and shrieking. The water was very warm and we snorkeled for about an hour. I don't remember seeing other fish, although they might have been there. The attraction was swimming with the sharks and rays. We were certainly close enough to touch them, but I doubt that it's good for the fish to be handled by people and we were certainly content to just watch them appear and disappear. Because it was a sandy bottom there wasn't the same clarity as you have with coral and/or rock. We've snorkeled a lot in Hawaii and the Caribbean and taken trips to both the Galapagos Islands and the Great Barrier Reef, for after about 20 years, this was one of my favorite snorkels. I'm sure a lot has changed, but it's still an amazing thing to snorkel with the bigger fish.

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We did this tour with NCL a few years ago. It was fun. We did a brief snorkel trip through open water and saw some fish, but we weren't along the reef. Then we re-boarded the speedboat and headed to Shark Ray Alley, where we spent about half an hour frolicking in the water. There were a decent number of nurse sharks and rays, and you could touch them if you wanted. The. We boarded the speedboat again to head to Caye Caulker. Lunch was included as part of this particular tour, so we all went to the restaurant attached to a hotel near the dock and had a chicken and rice dish, which was tasty. Then we had some time to stroll through town. There were some quaint little shops, but it was very hot that day, so most of the group hung out in the shade. After about an hour we boated back to the ship. I'm glad we chose this particular excursion.

 

 

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We didnt do the NCL one, but as far as Caye Caulker, we rented a golf cart there and got to see the whole island...as for food, we went to a guy that was had a big BBQ set up on the beach where he cooked chicken, lobster and chonch for $5..it was great!!

379521_2900013063206_1716826083_n.jpg?oh=38551a77955c1818f91276658b5f2005&oe=54ADD9BB

 

and here is a pic from the shark/ray alley

380431_2900010903152_1191798365_n.jpg?oh=52be1c6d08e5d2e23291270abf8178e3&oe=54C5570F&__gda__=1425598148_4ec4864cd574aa873ad0edcc005ecaa2

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What I know is VERY old information, but since you aren't getting anything better, I'll share it. We took this tour through NCL over 10 years ago. At that time we went on a smallish speed boat to the reef area. My guess is that there were maybe 15-20 other people on our boat. When we got to the snorkel spot there were a lot of other similar sized boats clustered rather close together. It seemed that no matter who you booked the snorkel trip with, you ended up in the same place. Some people from some boats threw food in the water to attract the sharks. It doesn't matter, they were certainly there. So were the rays.

 

The area where we snorkeled was shallow, sandy, and had a little sea grass. Not a coral reef. Because it is quite a long way from shore there is a bit of a current, but it was calm the day we were there. It was not like Grand Cayman in that "shallow" was maybe 10 feet deep, not knee deep, and there weren't a lot of kids standing around in the water squealing and shrieking. The water was very warm and we snorkeled for about an hour. I don't remember seeing other fish, although they might have been there. The attraction was swimming with the sharks and rays. We were certainly close enough to touch them, but I doubt that it's good for the fish to be handled by people and we were certainly content to just watch them appear and disappear. Because it was a sandy bottom there wasn't the same clarity as you have with coral and/or rock. We've snorkeled a lot in Hawaii and the Caribbean and taken trips to both the Galapagos Islands and the Great Barrier Reef, for after about 20 years, this was one of my favorite snorkels. I'm sure a lot has changed, but it's still an amazing thing to snorkel with the bigger fish.

 

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. Even if it was years ago, it sure helps to hear about it.

 

I wonder about where the location is now since you said that you were in about 10 feet of water.

 

According to NCL's website it states "Your shark and ray encounter takes place on a shallow sand bar inside the reef. While floating or standing on the bottom, let your hands slide along the smooth sides of the sharks and rays as they swim by in close proximity."

 

 

This makes it sound like you are sanding on a sandbar like at Grand Cayman. :confused:

 

We did this tour with NCL a few years ago. It was fun. We did a brief snorkel trip through open water and saw some fish, but we weren't along the reef. Then we re-boarded the speedboat and headed to Shark Ray Alley, where we spent about half an hour frolicking in the water. There were a decent number of nurse sharks and rays, and you could touch them if you wanted. The. We boarded the speedboat again to head to Caye Caulker. Lunch was included as part of this particular tour, so we all went to the restaurant attached to a hotel near the dock and had a chicken and rice dish, which was tasty. Then we had some time to stroll through town. There were some quaint little shops, but it was very hot that day, so most of the group hung out in the shade. After about an hour we boated back to the ship. I'm glad we chose this particular excursion.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Did you feel that 1/2 hour with the sharks and rays were enough time for everyone? How many people did you have in your group? Did the guides feed the sharks in order to get them to come over to you?

 

It seems as though lunch is no longer included with this excursion. You didn't happen to notice pricing on any of the food or drinks did you?

 

Thanks so much for your descriptions-both of you. :)

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We didnt do the NCL one, but as far as Caye Caulker, we rented a golf cart there and got to see the whole island...as for food, we went to a guy that was had a big BBQ set up on the beach where he cooked chicken, lobster and chonch for $5..it was great!!

 

 

and here is a pic from the shark/ray alley

380431_2900010903152_1191798365_n.jpg?oh=52be1c6d08e5d2e23291270abf8178e3&oe=54C5570F&__gda__=1425598148_4ec4864cd574aa873ad0edcc005ecaa2

 

 

I read a lot about people renting the golf carts while there. Is there really enough time to do this and really be able to make it worth it? Is the place so small that you have enough time to really go around and see everything? How much time would you say that you had? Where do you rent these golf carts in comparison to where your boat will be docked? What is the price to rent? I guess another thing that I would worry about is if you were to find some place you want to stop at, what do you do with the golf cart and how do you make sure that no one takes it when you are not on it?

 

That looks like a wonderful $5 meal! Was it close by the dock? Do you remember what they charged for drinks (soda)?

 

Thanks so much for your pictures of the sharks. It looks like the water isn't' very deep at all. Where you able to stand/touch the bottom in that area?

 

 

Oh...I almost forgot...no one has mentioned that they were able to stop along the way to feed the tarpon. Did this happen for any of you? :confused:

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Thanks again mitsugirly for asking the question. I believe the poster was referring to the Stingrays in Grand Cayman. The shark/stingray adventure sounds like you can actually stand up which is nice for me since I don't swim more than 2 seconds before I sink :eek: but put on a life jacket and just get in the water anyway.

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Thanks again mitsugirly for asking the question. I believe the poster was referring to the Stingrays in Grand Cayman. The shark/stingray adventure sounds like you can actually stand up which is nice for me since I don't swim more than 2 seconds before I sink :eek: but put on a life jacket and just get in the water anyway.

 

The sand bar at Grand Cayman is maybe 4-5 feet deep and you can definitely stand up in it. So I know that the poster wasn't referring to the sand bar being 10 feet there. The way I read what the poster is saying is that where the sharks are at it was shallow, but not shallow like at the sandbar in Grand Cayman and that it's maybe 10 feet deep at the shark/ray alley. I may be wrong. Hopefully that can be cleared up. I would much rather it be shallow like the sandbar at GC to do this shark ray alley excursion. But I'll take what I can get either way. :p

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If I remember correctly, it was around $18 for the golf cart and yes, there was enough time....the beach there isnt great, so we didnt swim. On the main street, there are all the little shops and they are within walking distance of where you dock. I just cant walk long distances, so we rented the cart...they came and picked us up at the dock, I think you had the cafe there call them, but I cant remember (old timers disease)...I just remember that it was really cool to be able to see the whole island. We enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again this cruise in Jan.

here is the itinerary for the Coral Breeze excursion:

spacer.gif Approximate Tour Itineraryspacer.gifClick here for an explanation of tour times.

The timetable below represents the tour activities from start to finish. Our daily departures are scheduled to fit within the port time of all ships arriving in Belize.

Start TourMeet Tour Leader.

10 MinutesBoarding your tour boat and safety briefing.

40 MinutesScenic boat ride to Caye Caulker. You will be fitted for your gear and indicate your lunch preferences (if lunch option selected).10 MinutesArrive at Caye Caulker for a quick restroom break and to drop off lunch orders.

90 MinutesSnorkel Shark/Ray Alley and Coral Gardens on the Barrier Reef.

30 MinutesLunch on Caye Caulker or begin island exploration.

60 MinutesExplore and enjoy Caye Caulker.

45 MinutesReturn trip to the Tourism Village.

 

And, yes, you can stand on the sand bar...it may be a little deep for you daughter to stand there though, I think it was about 4-4.5' deep

Edited by skyfire53
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Hi Mitsugirly,

I am also looking for info about this excursion. I found a review (you may have already seen it) on the Carnival page from last year- it is also the Sharks and Rays Island Getaway through the cruise ship. I know the cruise lines all use some of the same operators for their shore excursions (which is why you often have people from multiple ships on together), so I'm assuming this is really close to what NCL's is. We will hopefully know more in a couple weeks when the western caribbean cruises start... but check out this one from last April. The review of this excursion starts on the second page. I posted questions at the end last week but no one got back to me....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2013414&highlight=belize+sharks+rays+island+getaway

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If I remember correctly, it was around $18 for the golf cart and yes, there was enough time....the beach there isnt great, so we didnt swim. On the main street, there are all the little shops and they are within walking distance of where you dock. I just cant walk long distances, so we rented the cart...they came and picked us up at the dock, I think you had the cafe there call them, but I cant remember (old timers disease)...I just remember that it was really cool to be able to see the whole island. We enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again this cruise in Jan.

 

 

 

And, yes, you can stand on the sand bar...it may be a little deep for you daughter to stand there though, I think it was about 4-4.5' deep

 

Awesome. Thanks so much for the golf cart info and for the sand bar info. I really appreciate it. I'll play it by ear and see what the family wants to do when we get to Caye Caulker. Who knows, we might just end up on one of these carts. :D

 

Hi Mitsugirly,

I am also looking for info about this excursion. I found a review (you may have already seen it) on the Carnival page from last year- it is also the Sharks and Rays Island Getaway through the cruise ship. I know the cruise lines all use some of the same operators for their shore excursions (which is why you often have people from multiple ships on together), so I'm assuming this is really close to what NCL's is. We will hopefully know more in a couple weeks when the western caribbean cruises start... but check out this one from last April. The review of this excursion starts on the second page. I posted questions at the end last week but no one got back to me....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2013414&highlight=belize+sharks+rays+island+getaway

 

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

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I just read the review and now I'm even more excited. Thanks so much for pointing me in that direction. It is one that I hadn't seen before and was very detailed.

 

 

I guess this brings another question to mind....since the OP on the Carnival excursion mentioned that they still had to tender over to Belize and then get on another boat, does this hold true for NCL as well? I was really hoping this would be an excursion that they picked you up directly from the ship (like when we did Bannister Island). It makes it so much more nice when they do that and you can avoid the long tender wait and ride over to Belize City. :(

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I just read the review and now I'm even more excited. Thanks so much for pointing me in that direction. It is one that I hadn't seen before and was very detailed.

 

 

I guess this brings another question to mind....since the OP on the Carnival excursion mentioned that they still had to tender over to Belize and then get on another boat, does this hold true for NCL as well? I was really hoping this would be an excursion that they picked you up directly from the ship (like when we did Bannister Island). It makes it so much more nice when they do that and you can avoid the long tender wait and ride over to Belize City. :(

 

I wondered that as well. I recall for the Bannister Island that the "tender right from the ship" part was pretty spelled-out, so I'm expecting that this is not the case. And she mentioned in there that they used to do it that way for this one, but were recently told by Carnival not to. I'm guessing that there could be a few reasons for that- it might be harder for the cruise line to organize in terms of getting the right people on the right tender (and this is an "all day" thing so they can't wait until later), or it might be to encourage people to tour (ie spend money in) Belize City.

 

Did you post a question on that other thread? I'm hoping if we keep bumping it to the top she might see it and respond...

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A few answers for you:

1. We did tender to Belize City first, and we're dropped off back in Belize City. I don't know whether it's the same now.

2. There were 10 people on our tour. Half an hour with the sharks was plenty, and they did feed them to lure them in.

3. I don't remember exact food prices, but do remember that they were very affordable. The sodas didn't seem to be outlandishly expensive either, probably about $2.

4. The golf cart drivers (and food vendors, for that matter,) know what time the tours arrive at the island, so it should be pretty easy to find one if that's what's you decide to do.

 

 

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Hi Mitsugirly,

I am also looking for info about this excursion. I found a review (you may have already seen it) on the Carnival page from last year- it is also the Sharks and Rays Island Getaway through the cruise ship. I know the cruise lines all use some of the same operators for their shore excursions (which is why you often have people from multiple ships on together), so I'm assuming this is really close to what NCL's is. We will hopefully know more in a couple weeks when the western caribbean cruises start... but check out this one from last April. The review of this excursion starts on the second page. I posted questions at the end last week but no one got back to me....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2013414&highlight=belize+sharks+rays+island+getaway

 

Thanks for the link. The DD and I are actually looking at Carnival for Belize.

 

mitsugirly,

 

My avatar is from a Grand Cayman picture I took with the Sting Rays which was a grand time. I went on a private excursion w/o the DH who usually keeps an eye on me. :) The first time off of the boat the water seemed really shallow (I am 5'8") but the second time I went in I was having a little too much fun (without life jacket) and the next thing I knew the water was over my head. I took a misstep to say the least. I got back to the boat and put my life jacket back on and went back in the pet some more of the sting rays! When you can't really swim it seems like deep water everywhere! LOL

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