Lamanai cruise ship options. AyinHa?

[Chicken_Lips]

Hey everybody!

 

I am interested in this excursion to Lamanai. It looks like RCI offers two different excursions for this site. On the first one, which I think is newer, the boat trip comes from the south at AyinHa. Has anyone tried this company before? If you Google the company, there are some pictures of people on a speed boat without any covering overhead. Is it a super fast speed boat trip? Attractive or unattractive boat trip? How is the food? If the boat ride is faster, do they give you more time at the site than the other companies? I don't see any reviews or comments regarding this company on the usual travel web sites. I wrote the company on their website, but no response.

 

The other excursion the cruise ship is offering is the traditional excursion where the boat ride comes from the north of the Lamanai site at Tower Hill. I see that their boat rides last 60-90 minutes each way, but if its more scenic than the other excursion, it might be worth it.

 

I am trying to find out which ship excursion offers the longest time for Lamanai site visitation. I also tried calling RCI, but got nowhere. I want to book it through the ship due to the heavy transportation usage and tight time constraints on the site visit. Thanks for your help!

 

--Chicken_Lips

[crewsweeper]

Is the Tower Hill approach starting in Belize City? Or starting at Harvest Caye (which, IMO, would be a longer trek.) As RCL is stopping at Harvest Caye now, the Tower Hill approach may just be an old excursion not yet removed. But given the reviews of excursions from Harvest Caye, I'd venture to say the AyinHa approach will be your only option. No private excursions.

 

Take a look at a good Belize map and check the distances.

[Chicken_Lips]

Thanks for your reply, Harvest Caye looks interesting. Are other cruise lines other than NCL using it yet? As far as I know, we are still tendering to Belize City.

 

I did more research. The AyinHa Lamanai excursion (which is closer to Harvest Caye) lasts only 3 hours in total. I guess its for cruisers who need to see their sites in a hurry. Their boat ride from the river dock only takes 20 minutes to reach Lamanai, whereas the traditional excursion is slower and takes 60+ minutes to reach Lamanai from their dock.

 

I'm going to sign up for the older excursion since I want to chill and see as much of the river wildlife as possible. I know for sure the older excursion will stay at the Lamanai site for 60-90 minutes. I don't know how long the AyinHa excursion stays at the site. If the total excursion is 3 hours, it must not stay for long.