NEW to BELIZE CITY. Any thoughts?

[natish3000]

We are considering a cruise with Belize City as a stop.

Anyone with experience:

Is it worth stopping?

I've heard crime is bad.How bad?

What is there to do there?

Any other comments welcome. Thank You!!!!

[CaribbeanBound]

This will be one of your favorite ports IF you book an excursion. You'll hate the place if you do not. This fact has been chronicled time and again. Do yourself a favor and book an excursion! The two most popular excursions are the Cave Tubing and the Lamanai Ruins / Jungle River Cruise. Both get rave reviews. Our selection of the Lamanai tour was no exception. More in a minute.

 

We arrived into Belize a couple hours late to the consternation of those passengers who had booked private tours. On the way to our stop we sighted a mini paradise --- a small sandy island with a grass shack, a pier, and a few palm trees --- out in the middle of the ocean. We also spotted a group of 10 to 12 huge rays off the port side. We anchored well off-shore and required an 18-minute tender ride to get ashore. Tenders were provided by local Belize vessels of all makes and sizes. (We did not feel safe in our two-level wooden tender, but there were no incidents of any kind to report). We sat downstairs between 2 fans and a wall thankfully lined with lifejackets. Our tender held around 80 passengers. We were the first group off the ship. Priority went to passengers with excursions bought through Celebrity. All other passengers needed to secure tender tickets and wait in the Theater for their number to be called. Hint: if you are not on a ship excursion, get in line to get your tender tickets at least 1/2-hour before the announced time. Tickets are passed out early.

 

Once at the Belize pier we were greeted with a nice Welcome sign. There are only a handful of shops at the pier. I am guessing there were about 90 folks on this tour. We were herded onto 1 of 3 air conditioned buses. Whatever bus you get becomes your tour group, and included a guide that not only narrated the bus tour and answered our questions but also drove our boat on the jungle cruise and lead our excursion of the ruins. Our experienced guide was Vel, and he was breaking in a very pretty young guide-in-training that joined us for the duration of the tour. Our guides were very friendly, knowledgeable, and proud of their country.

 

Belize is a poor country with great natural and historical assets. One idiot on the bus asked "Why are there bars on the windows of houses?" during an otherwise interesting Q&A about the country. (Answer: they have a crime problem related to a "crack" problem). The housing and habitat reminded us a lot of Waimanalo on Oahu (sans the bars). We learned a lot about the city and country on our 1.25 hour bus tour over a paved 2-lane road to the boat dock. [side note: from visible signage along the road it appears Pepsi "controls" the less populated part of the country while Coca-Cola "owns" Belize City itself]. Each bus unloaded their groups into a large thatched roof building sporting restrooms and a couple of artisans. Within a few minutes we were loaded onto covered boats with comfortable seats and two powerful outboard motors.

 

We snaked South down the river to the Lamanai Ruin site. Our guide plying us with information and pointing out numerous birds (including King Fisher, Blue Herrin, Vultures, and Snow Egrets), baby crocodiles, and a huge green iguana, as well as various flora and fauna. We also found the huge termite nests in the trees to be of interest to all. One of the 3 boats experienced engine trouble which slowed us down a bit, but that boat was never abandoned. Our boat held back each time to make sure they were not stranded.

 

Once we arrived at Lamanai, we ate a hearty lunch of Mayan chicken, rice, coleslaw, coconut tarts, and bottled Pepsi and water. We started our tour in a small museum with interesting Mayan artifacts and continued on by foot through an impressive jungle featuring vines, "Jurassic Park"-sized palm fronds, medicinal trees, and Howler Monkeys. We spent about 1.5 hours exploring 3 large Mayan temples and the remains of a small Mayan town. Our guides provided an enormous amount of insight and kept us moving at a reasonable clip.

 

We returned to the boats, sped back up the river, and returned to the buses just before nightfall. We arrived back at the docks about an hour after the final tender was suppose to leave for the ship. Our guides, to their credit, had made the decision to give us the full tour --- not an abridged tour --- even though we had arrived late. After all, we were paying the full price of the tour and they weren't going to let us get anything less. It was clear, back in Lamanai, that we were not going to make the tender cutoff time. This began to cause great distress among some tour passengers. Just remember, that if you are on a Celebrity-sponsored tour, there are "no worries!" They were not going to strand 5% of their passengers in Belize. Sure enough, we were met at the pier with a nice large boat that easily and comfortably sped all of us back to the ship, which was beautifully illuminated out on the sea. Our only loss was an inability to shop for souvenirs at the pier as they were all closed. We arrived after first-seating dinner had begun and arrangements were made to seat first-seating diners in the second dinner seating.

 

Bottom line: take this tour.Complete details: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/westerncaribbean.html

[DEL67]

We just returned from our 3rd cruise that included a stop in Belize. I think it is one of the fastest growing ports in the Caribbean which says something about its popularity. I heard that Carnival is even thinking about building a long pier there to avoid tendering.

 

There are many interesting excusrions. Mayan ruins, cave tubing, snorkeling, canopy tours to name a few. We loved cave tubing. The primary drawback is that most excursions sites are a distance from the pier (90 minutes +.)

 

Some people complain about aggressive vendors outside the gates of the pier area. I thought that they were significantly less aggressive than vendors in Jamaica and Haiti (Labadee.) When we said no thank you and walked on, they left us alone.

 

We found that the port shopping area had grown threefold since our last visit in April 2004. There were not only many more souvenier shops, but Diamonds International has 2 store there now along with another nice jewelry store, Michael Collins gallery. In addition, there is an arts and crafts gallery with beauctiful wooden items and store focused on jade which we did not have time to visit.

 

We enjoy Belize; however, as CaribbeanBound said, take a tour (ship or private) or a water taxi to Calker Cay. There is little or inetrest other than shopping near the pier.

[CaribbeanBound]

The vendors didn't bother us.

 

By far, the worst vendors (defined as those who really go out of their way to bother you to the point that you just want to turn around and get back on the ship) are in Cuzumel.

[sharks48]

Del67: Did you do the ferry to Caye Caulker? We were considering doing this on our own. Would love advice from anyone who's done this as to whether it's a good idea or not. We just want to relax, and perhaps do some snorkeling from shore.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[grits]

Look in a guide books. Husband and I on Carnival Glory 2004. Did our own self walking tour. Went and saw governors mansion. The best is the Museum in the old prison. CHEAP!! Great artifacts and history of Belize. Traffic was bad. Could walk faster than taking a taxi. Also saw courthouse. It gave you a real feel for the city. Also nice gift shop in museum with few handmade items.

[bobobeagle]

The water taxi did not look safe. I was there last week. Prices are very high. There was nothing at that port that you could not buy anywhere except for Belize beer and liquor. I bought a wood purse. It was $25.00. We walked around the town. Once you get past the cab drivers, the locals don't bother you. No much to see. Belize City is very dirty. We did a snorkel excurion to Goff's Caye. It was disappointing. I would suggest you go for the Eastern if you have not booked. Key West is ok. Cozumel is great. It's plush compared to Belize. I wish we had tried Caye Caulker. Maybe I expected too much. I had heard so many people say it was beautiful. We walked past the city park. Every bench was occupied with a homeless person. I am from a city and am used to it, however, you may not be comfortable.

[Tarheelbelle]

Last year on a cruise we called in Belize City--I went to Lamanai on an excursion---Lamanai and New River safari. It was wonderful---interesting and beautiful. My friend went snorkeling and had a great time. This year we are on booked on another cruise with a call at Belize. I will be cave tubing and she will either do the same or dive. I think it is a great port...There is so much to do in nature!

[Sal]

If anyone wants personal excursion in Belize, I strongly recommend to find in port such "Mr. G" - he call so himself, and everyone knows him in the port. He is old black man - can drive you with a car wherever you want and also can tell you about everything. We went with him to Altun Ha, also we had city tour (I think it was much more interesting than with big groups) and paid only 70$ for everything. Also he stopped wherever we saw anything interesting..

 

[rxcruise]

We are a family of 5 and didn't have anything booked- walked off our tender and met Roy Flowers- he's the best. He is a taxi driver with an air conditioned van than can take you anywhere you want to go. Since we didn't have plans- he suggested the zoo with the kids(8,8,10) and added a tour of the city. We had a great time, met his daughter and saw where he lived. -my kids have a much better understanding of the world after having met Roy. What a day! We snorkled later in three different ports but for my money, I'd like to see the real people and the real city. And Belize is a good place to do it.

[sharks48]

CaribbeanBound: That little island you passed is Goff's Caye! We took the Carnival tour to Goff's because they pick you up directly at the boat. What a great tour! Sounds like Bobobeagle had a different experience, but we loved it. We snorkled off the boat just off the island for about an hour, then went to the island and relaxed for about an hour. The guides took those who wanted to out for a snorkle off shore. Others just relaxed on the dock, etc. The only thing that would improve the experience is if they had loungers and cold drinks. [There was a "barge" there which the guides said had restrooms - maybe they had refreshments, too, though we didn't see anyone walking around with them.]

 

Would definitely recommend this tour, even though it's "expensive". We don't usually do ship's tours, but getting picked up at the ship is a definite plus in Belize.

[seabum]

As it has been well documented - this is one port where you really want to book a tour. either through your ship or one of the local operators.

 

The three most popular trips revolve around snorkeling or diving (shark Ray alley is great), Mayan ruins, and the cave tubing.

 

I've spent my previous trips there out on the reef. Scuba at the blue hole and snorkel at Shark ray alley, so this next time we're heading inland for the cave tubing adventure.

 

This comes highly recoemmend from friends as well as this posting board.

 

Personally I've used Coral Breeze for my excursions - they've been great. (Also well documented on these boards) I'm booked to go cave tubing with them next month. They also offer several other popular tours. In addition, there are several other local firms there as well - that CC members have endorsed.

 

I've also heard that the zoo is pretty good - though I've never been,

 

Have fun