Harvest Caye Private tender to Mainland Belize

[devigad]

Thanks lukewheller,

I've contacted a couple of companies. So far Splash Dive has said they are not set up yet to do that. Don't know about the other ones. I was hoping to snorkel in Laughing Bird Caye Natl Park.

[Birdnutty]

We are traveling on Dec. 7 and will be on the NCL Jade in Harvest Caye. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how often the water taxis return from Placencia. One of the tour companies I contacted about snorkeling in Laughing Bird Caye National Park said the information from the ship is misleading and there is enough time to do the longer private tours. The part I can't figure out is if the ship are the ones running the water taxi service how they decide what your return time is?

Any info from someone who has been there or has done one of the private tours would be very much appreciated! I'm getting rather annoyed with the lack of information and restrictions for guests in Harvest Caye.

 

I share your frustration. It appears that NCL really wants to keep the passengers on Harvest Caye. :mad: I am hoping that anyone traveling to Belize in the near future and learns anything at all will post on this thread and keep us updated. Please!

[kcdancerkc]

Hopefully this will end up on the Belize board :)

[devigad]

I emailed Shore Excursioneer and shared my reticence to pay a deposit on a tour which I may not have time enough to do. I was inquiring about the Laughing Bird Caye snorkeling tour or the Monkey River eco tour. They said they will try and find a way to verify that we can still return to the ship past the 3 hour limit and get back to me. I'll report back when they do.

[devigad]

Here is the reply from Shore Excursioneer:

hank you for being patient while working on your query. Please note we just got information from our local partner and they said, the time on the wristband is a recommended time to return, however, you can stay longer by your own responsibility, as you might know, must be back aboard the cruise ship with at least 1 hour prior to the departure time and will need to consider the time of travel from the mainland. We can make the arrangements if you need to stay longer, just put a note on the step # 4 while doing your order and request to stay longer on the mainland. I do not believe you are able to take two excursions on Harvest Caye, you must decide which one did you prefer the most. However, can stay a little bit longer on the mainland to look around or shop.

 

Now my challenge is deciding which excursion to do!

[willsears94]

Thanks devigad!

I plan to go through Splash as they wrote me that they are looking to do excursions through NCL, and have a contract within the year. So far, they discussed diving Silk Cayes which is a fair enough dive for me. I believe they will package it as scuba/snorkel so that you may choose 1 or the other.

Did you get this same impression from Splash, devigad? Or can anyone verify who has been on the ships that they offer Scuba trips with local guides yet?

[Twinzma]

I too would love to go to the mainland. Now I wonder if the shore excursion credit would work for the tender?

[devigad]

Yes, lukewheller, that is what they told me too. They have a lot of good reviews so I'm sure you'll have a great trip with them. Have fun!!

[tandc2019]

Stirring up an old topic... sorry if there's another thread.  

 

Any update on the amount of time that you can spend in Palencia, how many boats are offered, the times, and so on?

 

TYIA