Shark Ray Alley

[Orangepost-it]

Hi!

 

We are first time cruisers really excited about touching a shark! I can't seem to decide between the few private excursions we can find on Google. Does anyone have personal experiences (positive or negative)? We are leaning towards Coral Breeze Tours (rum punch is a plus, haha).

 

We will be docked 9AM to 6PM - should we worry about time?

 

TIA!

[oreoandboots]

We used Belize Exotic Adventure. We went to Shark Ray Alley, Coral Gardens & Caye Caulker. It was AWESOME! We swam with sting rays & a lot of little sharks. I would highly recommend it. We got back with plenty of time to spare.

[ernurse1903]

We used Belize Exotic Adventure. We went to Shark Ray Alley, Coral Gardens & Caye Caulker. It was AWESOME! We swam with sting rays & a lot of little sharks. I would highly recommend it. We got back with plenty of time to spare.

Could you elaborate a bit more on your experience? We are also looking at booking snorkeling for this area and have narrowed it to either Coral Breeze Tours or Belize Exotic Adventures. Was the boat crowded? Did it have a covered area? How attentive was the staff, and were they mindful of the time so you made the tender back to the boat without rushing?

Thanks in advance for any info!

[oreoandboots]

Not once did they rush us. We had a few hours until we got back on the ship. The boat was small. We were with another family. Maybe 10 of us. I don't think it was covered. Here is my review on tripadvisor.

 

This was by far the best shore excursion of our trip. The guides were awesome! We had to wait a little bit for some other members of our group to show up, but once they got there we were off. The boat ride was about 45 minutes to the Gardens, which was pretty cool. Everyone had life jackets on & they even guided my mother in law in the waters, which were a little rough. Then on to Shark Ray Alley. We saw a ton of sting rays & some nurse sharks. Got to touch them up close. We then went to Caye Caulker and ate lunch and walked around the town there. It was pretty cool. We also went to feed the tarpons too. They were very informative about the area and answered all of our questions. I would definitely recommend them.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291968-d2335988-r197908622-Belize_Exotic_Adventures_Day_Tours-Belize_City_Belize_District.html#

[Orangepost-it]

Thanks ! We will definitely check them out!

 

What times were your ship docked at belize?

[tammyae29]

Do Not use Splash Wave snorkel

We had originally booked Goff Island and when we arrived the "manager" talked us I no Hol Chan. She said it was the best snorkel and not crowded. We paid more money than originally told and was loaded on a boat with all others waiting. Before stepping into boat I once again said this is going to Hol Chan and she said yes and told the captain these 4 are the ones. When we arrived at Cay Caulker we inquired about Hol Can and were told we were not going. We were got back to Belize City we saw the 'manager" and told her we were not happy . She said we paid for Cay Caulker. We told her paid what she told us to pay and she knew we wanted to go to Hol Chan. What we believe happen is she only had the 4 of us to go to Goff so she talked us into Hol Chan and then the others that were suppose to go didn't show up she put us on the boat to Cay Caulker.

[Orangepost-it]

Thanks so much for that! It's great to also know who not to book.

 

I've been working through the other posts and are thinking of belize express tours. So many choices and only one cruise day!

[_beachgirl_]

Orangepost-it, when are you headed to Belize?

 

I've booked a private snorkel excursion for mid January. If your cruise is after that I can let you know how it went. I wouldn't want to recommend anything without trying it first.

[Orangepost-it]

We are leaving soon (19th) , but I will let you know my results! Thanks though :-)

[VacaytimeRR2015]

Hi - we leave next week and have booked a trip through Shore Excursioneer . com - Can't tell you yet if its good, but their website seems pretty good with a lot of guarantees, including getting you back to the boat on time. Another thing I like is they offer a 15 flight to Ambergis Caye then the snorkel trip so no long boat ride to get there. Whole trip is $140 per person. Good luck!

[Tase0319]

Hi - we leave next week and have booked a trip through Shore Excursioneer . com - Can't tell you yet if its good, but their website seems pretty good with a lot of guarantees, including getting you back to the boat on time. Another thing I like is they offer a 15 flight to Ambergis Caye then the snorkel trip so no long boat ride to get there. Whole trip is $140 per person. Good luck!

 

We are book on this same one in three weeks! VacaytimeRR2015, I hope you will come back here and share your experience with this excursion :)

[mitsugirly]

This is an awesome experience! I would have to say don't book with the cruise ship. We did (for personal reasons), but next time would do a private. However, we still had a wonderful experience (including seeing dolphins). I have a complete review of our day with TONS of pictures in my signature link if you are interested. :)

[tarstravels]

Hi - we leave next week and have booked a trip through Shore Excursioneer . com - Can't tell you yet if its good, but their website seems pretty good with a lot of guarantees, including getting you back to the boat on time. Another thing I like is they offer a 15 flight to Ambergis Caye then the snorkel trip so no long boat ride to get there. Whole trip is $140 per person. Good luck!

 

We have also booked this flight to SanPedro,AmbergrisCaye. A short flight of 15 minutes was more appealing to me than an hour on some boat. We will be in Belize on Dec 16th...sure hope this excursion is worth it and that you have a great time!:)

[Orangepost-it]

We didn't get to see shark ray alley :(, but got to see Altum-ha which was awesome!

 

Booking through the ship would be a good idea for this port because of the tender process. It took us almost three hours to get off :eek: due to a tendering issue. We got our tender tickets too :(. Those on a Royal Caribbean excursion got the first tenders off.

 

We did save tons of money by just talking up some of those "information booths" in the port. We paid 40$ a person with another group (6 total )

[mkam2821]

We did this excursion with Belize Exotic. They were VERY accomodating to the fact that although my husband would be accompanying us on the boat and to the island, he would not be snorkeling and so they charged us less for him. Our group therefore was 5 snorkelers +1. We all debarked the same tender and met up with the tour guide quickly and easily. The boat taking us to the island was small and the ride was a bit choppy until we got out to open water and then it was smooth. We dropped off my hubbie and pre-ordered our lunch (to beat the larger groups yet to come) and head out. Our guide Natalie was terrific. Our group was small and she was able to direct us as to what to see where and even dove down with my (waterproof) camera to get a close up of a moray eel for me. knowing it was my first time snorkeling she consistently made sure that I was comfortable and safe. The sharks and stingrays were AWESOME! Lunch back on the island was fine (not great, but the atmosphere was) and then we headed back out. On the way back they pulled up the awning to protect us from more sun and they stopped to feed tarpons and we were lucky enough to observe some dolphins. We had a full fun day and still returned back to the port with plenty of time to catch a tender back to the ship. Would do this againin a heart beat. LOVED IT!

[alerrt101]

We used Coral Breeze twice this year and had very good experiences both times. Reviews can be found on TripAdvisor.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291968-d815591-r303891078-Coral_Breeze_Tours-Belize_City_Belize_District.html

and

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291968-d815591-r255888172-Coral_Breeze_Tours-Belize_City_Belize_District.html#REVIEWS

 

Good luck and enjoy the trip!

[Travel Mom]

we leave next week and are doing the snorkle, shark, ray island tour. i have studied these and the ships tours. this is what we decided. I will leave a review when I return. some of the reviews make me nervous, but e-mailing with the company has been very successful. You seem to get the most for your money on this one. I am taking my 3 kids 20, 22, 23..one is just riding along. so its $72 for tour and $42 for observer price.

[Peachy59]

Those of you that booked through shoreexcursioneer could you please let me know how your excursion went? We are thinking of booking with them in April and I'm a little wary of booking with them but really want to do the excursion by air!:D

[kidstwo2]

Those of you that booked through shoreexcursioneer could you please let me know how your excursion went? We are thinking of booking with them in April and I'm a little wary of booking with them but really want to do the excursion by air!:D

Peachy59- My sister and I did this very excursion (by air thru shoreexursioneers back in Sept 2014 and loved it. It was one of the most unique excursions we have ever done. We are both in our 50's. Everything went like clockwork from the taxi to the airport to the plane ride - which is what we felt like made this so unique - being able to see the reef and small islands from above is just spectacular - to the snorkeling. Of course it helped we did have beautiful weather and calm water-I know that is not always a given with any excursion in Belize. There were only 4 of us on the snorkel excursion and the other 2 were divers so my sister and I had our very own personal guide who took excellent care of us and made certain we saw everything there was to see in the water. I do think the small size of our group and probably in general is that many people are less likely to 1)book a non cruise ship excursion and 2)especially one that involves a small plane flight. I can understand both points but for us it just could not have been more perfect. I am returning on another cruise in March (this time with DH and 2 other couples) and although I have lobbied hard for this excursion nobody else wants to do the plane so we will be doing the shoreexcursionner by boat. Best of luck on your decision and if I can answer any specifics please let me know. I know when I was researching this option I couldn't find alot of info about it.

[Peachy59]

Thank you kidstwo! Just the info I was looking for. :)