Cave-Tubbing w/kids Questions?

[cruizinrican]

I will be in Belize in Dec. and would really like to do the cave-tubbing tour with the kids but was wondering if anyone has ever brought their kids and could comment a little on their experience. Or I was thinking of taking them snorkeling in Goff's Caye (we did this w/out the kids in Sept.) or the zoo. They are 13 and 8 1/2 yrs. old. I might even break-down and ask for their advice on what they would rather do but was trying to keep it a surprise!

 

Any advice would be helpful on any of these things I mentioned. I was looking at booking thru Belizecruiseexcursions.com by Island Marketing. Anyone used this group before? I did notice that they offer excursions in all our visited islands so it would be reall easy to book it all right thru them.

 

Will the river water by freezing in December?

 

Cruizinrican:)

[Ellya]

Personally, I think 8 is a little too young for this excursion. The caves are pitch black inside and the water is swifter than you might think (at least it can be depending on the water level). There is a considerable amount of paddling and navigating around rocks etc that must be done. You certainly can link up your group, but there are times you will have to separate too due to the currents and obstacles. I would be so worried if my 8 year old went drifting off down the river, it would just take the fun right out of it. I think at that age, snorkeling would be a lot more fun, and save the cave tubing for teens and older.

[cruizinrican]

The only two replies and their both extremely different! One says not for my 8 yr. old and the other says bring the kids they will have a blast!

 

I appreciate your posts, my obvious questions and concerns were the very same ones brought up by Ellya. I would hate to have a bad experience on the river with her. She would never trust us again on any excursion. And then post by Metisolady, says the kids will have fun and that it is safe?

 

Is there anyone that has taken their children on this excurion that could comment on their personal experience?

 

Thnak you-

Cruizinrican:)

[Ellya]

We went as a family this summer and my "kids" are 21 and 19. We can all swim, although I'm not very brave about it. I chose to wear a life jacket, but the rest of our group did not. We had planned to stick together and link our tubes since my 19 year old daughter was nervous about the caves. As we departed, we were separated by the loading process and currents. We were quickly swept into the cave. Although it did not take very long for us to regroup, my daughter was very frightened that she would be alone in the cave and was actually in tears by the time we caught up to her. From then on we were able to stay fairly close together, but there were times we had to let go of each other to avoid hitting the rocks and cave walls. Inside the caves is very dark. It is a very exciting excursion for adults and older children, but I remember thinking as I was on the excursion that I would never take a young child due to the nature of the tour.

 

Each person taking this excursion must be prepared to:

 

- Cross a river up to thigh deep while holding both the crossing rope and your inner tube

- Walk at a good pace for about 30 minutes carrying said tube

- Stay seated in the inner tube in the river while negotiating obstacles such as rocks, cave walls, and tree branches

- Tolerate the darkness of the caves while doing the above

- Paddle through shallow areas and around obstacles (meaning also that your arms will need to reach the water over your tube)

 

It is very fun and scenic, but definately more than the "lazy river" at your local water park.

[fenchie]

We just got back from the Carnival Glory yesterday and the hubby's and kids did the cave tubing thing in Belize on Tuesday. Two adults, four children...ages 5, 5, 7, 9. I read the boards before we went and booked the Xtreme KIDS Cave Tubing excursion.

 

Very simply...This excursion is not for kids under the age of 12. There is a reason that only one company offers it to children under 12...and even they shouldn't. (And if I hadn't been so intent on giving the children an experience of a lifetime, I would have figured that out using common sense prior to the cruise.) The caves are dark. The water moves fast. If it had just been the hike through the rainforest, no problem. Actually, all the kids were troopers on that part--even when hiking through mid-calf high mud. However, controlling the tubes in the river is harder than it looks in the pictures. Even the two adults had a tough time getting the hang of controlling the tube. There are lots of very deep points (20 feet plus) and lots of very shallow rocky sections (that require everyone to "lift their butts" so they don't scrape the river floor).

 

This isn't the lazy river at MGM Grand or Disney's Treasure Island for sure. (Admittedly, this was half the intrigue for us!) Would we try it again? Not until the kids were well into high school, in all honesty.

[cruizinrican]

I was waiting for someone to post that had actually taken the kids on a cave tubbing excursion. It took awhile but Fenchie came thru!

 

I thought it might be too scarey for my 8yr.old and she is very tiny for her age so I wanted to make sure it would be a good experience for her not a bad one.

 

I as so glad you posted this reply before I brought her on it, she would have never have trusted me again, for sure. She is a scaredy cat when it comes to the unknown.

 

Thnaks for saving me alot of heart ache and whinning.

 

Cruizinrican:)

[Journey803]

I went cave tubing just this past Thursday and IMO it is definitely not for children. I was on the Carnival Miracle with a group of about 100 and we all went on the cave tubing excursion together. At least 75% of us walked out of there with cuts,scrapes,and/or bruises on our arms and legs. It is not anything like sitting in a tube going down a "lazy river". There are some rapids,trees,large rocks,etc. that alot of us crashed right into or got tangled up in. Our tour guide was very unorganized and not helpful at all. Like I said,alot of us were injured on this excursion. If you decide to go don't forget the insect repellant....very important. There are also alot of fire ants and the trail was extremely muddy and slippery. The people that wore water shoes were slipping or falling all over the place on the trails. Those of us that wore sandals with good tread on the bottom did much better. To anyone that goes on this excursion....please be careful and if you happen to get a guide named Fernando......get another guide. I hope this helps you.

[cruizinrican]

I will definately not be booking the cave tubbing excursion for us! I will book the snorkeling excursion at Goff's Caye again. I guess the old saying rings true this time for sure, keep with what you know!

 

Thanks to all who replied to my post, you really did save us alot of crying and screaming.

 

PS- My DD also thanks you!;)

 

Cruizinrican

[ThymeToCruise]

We just returned from Belize on the Dream. Maybe we are more adventurous than other folks, but we booked through "cavetubing.com" and had a fantastic experience. My children are 5, 6, and 15. We had no trouble walking to the site, although the rainforest did live up to its name and showered us, so it was a bit muddy, but not difficult. I found that the guide to passenger ratio and their experience (and patience!) with children made all the difference. The 5 of us "linked" together and Junior kept us moving in the right direction at all times--he certainly earned his $45. from us!

 

After we were finished and changed into dry clothes, we hopped back into the van and went to a local roadside eatery for lunch, which consisted of chicken, rice and beans, and coleslaw...all yummy, and a bargain at $5. per person.

 

The contact person is Yhonny (sp?), he's great with answering your questions, and very entertaining on the trip to the caves.

 

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, my family really had a great time, and plenty to talk about for the rest of the trip (our other adventure was the zip-line in Roatan, but that would go under another post!)

[ThymeToCruise]

oops! double-posted!

[BethCarp]

What I don't get is if you look at some of the pictures on the site, there are several little kids. Like around age 3-4. Yet, everyone here is saying no way to kids.

[sunrise&set]

We just returned from Belize on the Dream. Maybe we are more adventurous than other folks, but we booked through "cavetubing.com" and had a fantastic experience. My children are 5, 6, and 15. We had no trouble walking to the site, although the rainforest did live up to its name and showered us, so it was a bit muddy, but not difficult. I found that the guide to passenger ratio and their experience (and patience!) with children made all the difference. The 5 of us "linked" together and Junior kept us moving in the right direction at all times--he certainly earned his $45. from us!

 

After we were finished and changed into dry clothes, we hopped back into the van and went to a local roadside eatery for lunch, which consisted of chicken, rice and beans, and coleslaw...all yummy, and a bargain at $5. per person.

 

The contact person is Yhonny (sp?), he's great with answering your questions, and very entertaining on the trip to the caves.

 

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, my family really had a great time, and plenty to talk about for the rest of the trip (our other adventure was the zip-line in Roatan, but that would go under another post!)

Thanks for this review! My family of 5 is planning on booking the cave tubing and I think I'm leaning towards cavetubing.com. We also plan to book the zip-line in Roatan so I'll be looking for that review as well.

Thanks!

[buckeyeinmd]

Thanks for this review! My family of 5 is planning on booking the cave tubing and I think I'm leaning towards cavetubing.com. We also plan to book the zip-line in Roatan so I'll be looking for that review as well.

Thanks!

 

Did your kids like it and how old are they? Thanks.

 

Doug

[Gingras31]

My family and I went cave tubing last week. We booked through cave-tubing.com with Yhonny. He was great! My son is 11 and had absolutely no problem with the walk or the tubing. Yhonny's guides have groups of 6 or 7 people linked together and it is one guide per group. We really didn't have to worry about paddling or steering around rocks. He just told us when to put our "butts up".

[cruzn buckeye]

First time that I have read this...anyone else have this problem?

[Eliot Ness]

First time that I have read this...anyone else have this problem?

Thigh high mud? When we went there had been a lot of rain that week in Belize and all of the cruise ship tours were canceled, but Yhony was still able to do the tour (more guides than the cruise ship tours). The trail was a little muddy in some places, but nothing like calf or thigh deep, and most of the muddy places we were able to walk off to the side and avoid.

 

The problem that Journey803 had sounds like they were in too large of a group (100) that did not have enough guides. The water was very fast when we went, but there was a guide for about every six tubes, and none of us crashed into anything. Yhony and his crew does a very good job in that respect, and there were some younger kids in our group that also did just fine.

 

Read enough reviews and you'll find a lot of posts where the independent tour operators have to stop and help pax who are on a cruise ship tour and have become stuck on a rock or tree because they weren't linked together and didn't have enough guides.

 

I would bring some insect repellant.... we sprayed on a little Deep Woods Off and didn't have any problems, and this was late June after a lot of rain.

 

John

[cruiserlkb]

I think you will be alright with bringing your kids on this excursion. We went last week during their rainy season and there were kids on there and they had no problem. They wear life jackets and seem safe. We did not do the one with the cruise ship though. We went with Yhonny. We all hook on together and each group has a leader in front. The people from the ship went down by themselves. You also have a light on you your head so you can see. Just my opinion and we had a great time.Bring BUG SPRAY!!!!!!!!

[MCZARY]

We just got back - do not cave tube with kids through carnival. They were totally on their own.

We went with Cave-tubing.com Yhony, Richard, Tigre, and two-three other guides for about 30 people. Our group was alittle big 10 of us but Richard and sometimes help from another one of their professionals guided us through with no problem. We all linked together and I felt very safe. There was me 45, husband 50, 21, our daughter 19 Tequila Sheila, our 7 year old, my sister in law who is typical girlie girl, 40, her 2 kids 14, 9 and her friend another girlie girl 40, with her son 10. We were all linked together with a safety stap on my 7 year old's tube just to be sure. We always felt safe and well taken care of. Unlike the ship group who was boucing off walls, getting seperated from each other, flipping over etc.

We had a blast. They even brought along a CD filmer to capture it all on CD for us to purchase with no presure. I won't be surprised to hear carnival hired them to run their show. It was very safe and professional.

We got to see some monkeys in the tree. They bought high power flash light to point out special interests.

[Darcy03231]

We did it with our kids when they were 10 & 12 and we had a great time. Booked through X-Stream. We had a small group and our guide was great. The kids did have some trouble carrying their tubes. DH and I ended up carring part of the way for them. That being said I would not do it with children under the age of 8.