Belize OR Costa Maya ... Thought

[TEGL]

We are doing a western Carribean cruse but I'm torn between 2 different ones. We will be traveling with our very active and curious 2-year old and would like to go somewhere that has things for him to enjoy. I've tried to do some research on the ports but not getting vary. Would Belize city or Costa Maya be better?

 

So far all Ive found is the zoo in Belize and ruins in Costa Maya ... Is that about all that is offered?

Edited May 15, 2016 by TEGL

[Pitzel]

Costa Maya, without a doubt. Look at Maya Chan for a wonderful beach day. There is also a pool at the port itself...some people actually spend all day there.

 

I wouldn't take a toddler to Belize. We brought our then 4 year old and went cave tubing with him. While he liked the tubing, the drive there and the long hike were more than his patience could bear. Also, Belize City is a pretty rough place if you don't have an excursion planned. I wouldn't venture out beyond the port area with a little one without a guide with me.

[TEGL]

Costa Maya, without a doubt. Look at Maya Chan for a wonderful beach day. There is also a pool at the port itself...some people actually spend all day there.

 

I wouldn't take a toddler to Belize. We brought our then 4 year old and went cave tubing with him. While he liked the tubing, the drive there and the long hike were more than his patience could bear. Also, Belize City is a pretty rough place if you don't have an excursion planned. I wouldn't venture out beyond the port area with a little one without a guide with me.

 

 

Thanks for the input, I would LOVE to go tubing but no way would take my baby, makes me extremely nervous especially since he is my mover and shaker and wouldn't sit in the tube. Good to know about Belize, I plan on baby wearing but don't want to risk anything. Thanks 😄

[kitkat343]

In Costa Maya, there is a great Mayan experience in which your child can visit (and even climb some) Chacchoben Ruins. There is an excellent authentic Mayan lunch afterwards, and your child can help cook tortillas. The Mayan grandmothers were really good with children, and enjoyed helping my son cook.

 

https://www.thenativechoice.com/tour...xperience-tour

 

The only downside of this tour is that the office is a fairly long walk if you are schlepping a child in the heat (it is an easy walk if everyone in your party is mobile and physically fit). There is a trolley to take people to the end of the pier (we missed this and couldn't wait with our impatient son) and the company running the tour recommends that travelers with mobility issues take a cab to their offices (we got unlucky and there were no cabs in port when we disembarked). The tour itself was outstanding, but I wanted to let you know so you can prepare your child that there might be a bit of a wait for a trolley or cab if you need to take transportation to the excursion.

 

 

In Belize, the Belize zoo is outstanding for toddlers - you can get very close to the animals.

[OCruisers]

Costa Maya would be soooooooooooo best for you! :D

[TEGL]

In Costa Maya, there is a great Mayan experience in which your child can visit (and even climb some) Chacchoben Ruins. There is an excellent authentic Mayan lunch afterwards, and your child can help cook tortillas. The Mayan grandmothers were really good with children, and enjoyed helping my son cook.

 

https://www.thenativechoice.com/tour...xperience-tour

 

The only downside of this tour is that the office is a fairly long walk if you are schlepping a child in the heat (it is an easy walk if everyone in your party is mobile and physically fit). There is a trolley to take people to the end of the pier (we missed this and couldn't wait with our impatient son) and the company running the tour recommends that travelers with mobility issues take a cab to their offices (we got unlucky and there were no cabs in port when we disembarked). The tour itself was outstanding, but I wanted to let you know so you can prepare your child that there might be a bit of a wait for a trolley or cab if you need to take transportation to the excursion.

 

 

In Belize, the Belize zoo is outstanding for toddlers - you can get very close to the animals.

 

Thanks for the heads up, we would most likely take him in a backpack so that when he gets tired of walking we can easily 'carry' him. He's pretty active now and runs with me about 1/2 mile without problem so I think the walk would be ok with him but better to be prepared than not.

I heard the zoo is about an $80-100 cab ride? Does that sound right to you? How do you do can ride with no car seat? That's my only concern.

Edited May 16, 2016 by TEGL

[kitkat343]

Sorry - we visited Belize prior to having kids, and the visit to the zoo was after cave tubing, so everything was included in one price. So I don't know how much a cab ride to the zoo would be.

 

I'd also vote against cave tubing with toddlers - the day we went the water was very calm and safe, but there have been days when it is more dangerous and tourists have drowned. The zoo is great if you choose that cruise, but honestly my son also like the Mayan ruins and making tortillas a lot so either way you will have a nice trip.

 

We have taken our car seat with us on cruises - our son slept on the airplane in it, and it attaches with a mommy hook to carry on luggage, so I was able to roll it with the carry on in the airport. We arranged private tours for all of our excursions, so we'd install the car seat once and be all set for the day.

[Jasalth]

The zoo in Belize has been the favorite one my family has visited. It was after cave tubing though so I can't even say for sure how the ride would be, but it would be a decent amount as it isn't all that close and took us 30+ mins to get back. I would also have to say this was 90% due to our guide. Cavetubing.bz overbooked, so they brought in the son of the man who owns the BIG eco tours for Belize (aka the ones you go repelling/camping/diving in underwater caves and the like type tours). For being only 19 he knew everything about all the animals and plant life, but then again, I think he was even an exception to the rule.

 

IMO though, Belize would NOT be a place I would just take a cab somewhere and go, even if I was with someone who was a professional MMA fighter! Especially not with a small child. Mine were 14 and 11, and I was honestly the scariest place I have been with my kids. In this 20 foot walk, we were surrounded by vendors, who then proceeded to follow us into the security room for the dock yard trying to sell us prescription drugs, in front of port security and police who didn't bat an eye. You would really need to look into a private vendor (make sure they will drop you off in the port!) or threw the cruise line directly for the zoo.

 

Costa Maya I can't give advice about, have never been there personally, but family members love it. Just for safety sake with an active toddler, I would chose it knowing nothing personally about it.

[jackha2014]

I have been to both on Carnival. Like Belize alot better. Cave tubing was awesome. There are also snorkeling expeditions to island off Belize. Did the ruins in Costa Maya was interesting if want that.

[denas]

Belize is a 20-30 minute tender ride. Then you need to book some type of tour company to take you to the zoo which is about a 40 minute drive. This is not a port you can just walk out the port gates and hire a taxi. In fact, there are police who will ask you who your tour guide is and make sure you get linked up with the right one because it is pretty chaotic outside the port gates.

 

Cave tubing is another 20 minute drive past the zoo. And even with the best private excursions where they will carry your tube, you are still looking at a good 20-30 minute walk (we had a six year old in our group who was done with the entire thing and had to be carried for half of it)

 

Costa Maya has a nice pool right at the port. There are also the people dressed as various Mayan animals that will fascinate anyone - but especially a toddler. There are also tons of beach clubs with easy access for a beach day. And no tender required.

[noddoyll]

Costa Maya, one of my favorite ports, would be my choice. After checking out the port take a 10 min shuttle ride to Mahahual, an ocean side village. This village could be described as a Mexican Mayberry. There you can shop from the natives while pushing your stroller relax under the palm trees at a beach club, or play in the ocean water or do all three. You stay as long as you like and then take a taxi back to the port when you ready.

[anonmom]

The Belize Zoo is great. The animals are all native to Belize and the setup is like they have caged off pieces of jungle instead of first bulldozing everything and then creating fake habitats like they do when building zoos in the USA.

 

I'm not sure why so many people on this board are freaked out by Belize. To me it is a very typical developing country. I would not wander around the port area after dark, but I wouldn't do that in New York or Miami, either. It is perfectly safe during the day.

 

We took a cab to the zoo in January and I think it was $80. Maybe only $60. On the tender, one of the crew members was going around asking people what their plans were. We said we were going to catch a cab to the zoo and he told us to all for a specific cabbie ("Big Jason" might have been the name) who would give us a good deal. As soon as we stepped out of the port, a man with that name came up to us (guy on the boat clearly called him and gave him a description of our family). We asked his price and it was way more than we wanted to pay. I don't remember exactly, but I think he wanted $200 for a tour that included zoo admission. We thanked him and kept walking. In the next several blocks we got several offers, but we said they were all too high and that we would just take the bus ($2 per person). Eventually (way before the actual bus station) we got the offer that worked for our budget. It was definitely between $60 and $80 for round trip transportation to the zoo, no "tour" or other stops that we didn't want.

 

We paid half up front and the guy filled his van with gas. It was not air conditioned, so it was a warm ride, but not bad. The ride is 45 minutes each way on a normal paved highway.

 

Since this was not a tour, we paid our own zoo admission and the driver did not come into the zoo with us. This wasn't a problem at all with the zoo, they had several benches and a gift shop where he could buy water and wait for us.

 

The animals at the zoo are fabulous. You can get very close to jaguars and other wild cats. We read the book "Pat the Great Cat" before leaving home, which is about a real jaguar who was rehabilitated at the Belize Zoo and is now at the Milwaukee Zoo. In the book there is a jaguar cub, Junior Buddy, who is now all grown up. We took pictures of him from less than 10 feet away.

 

Our driver was friendly and polite and got us back to the port in plenty of time to catch a tender back to the ship. But the car seat thing would be a real concern for me with a child that young. Our daughter was 4 at the time, so we just brought her Ride Safer Travel Vest, which is like a portable booster seat. If you aren't willing to schlep a car seat around on your cruise, I'd save the Belize Zoo trip for when he is a little older.

 

We are probably going on the Mayan experience tour in Costa Maya in January. Since it is with a well-known tour operator, I am going to email them to make sure all of their vans have seat belts, etc. You might wish to do the same if you are set on doing an away-from-port excursion in Costa Maya.

 

With a child that young, though, I would probably want to just walk around the port and surrounding area. They are so curious about everything that what we think of as a pretty boring walk will still include so many different things to explore.

 

Our backup backup plan in Belize (if no cabbie would give us a ride at a price we were comfortable with, and if the bus was too crowded, or if we got off the ship too late for us to feel comfortable going 45 minutes away due to oversleeping or problems with the tenders) was to walk a few blocks to Baron Bliss lighthouse and a historic church near the port and then visit the swing bridge. I think either that or the pool area at Costa Maya would be more than entertaining enough for a 2-year old.

[A&Jfamily]

I have been to both and either would be fine. Belize also has the option of Goffs Caye - it's a boat ride to a small atoll and you can get off and snorkel from land or out on the boat. We took turns watching our two year old so we could each snorkel. He has a blast exploring the shallows, playing in the sand, splashing, collecting shells, watching hermit crabs etc. He also liked the Tender.

 

In Costa Maya, we left him on board while we went to the ruins. We were back by lunch, picked him up from the ship and took him ashore to swim at the large salt water pool. The beach here isn't great for snorkelkng.