Help with Western Caribbean excursions on the Magic

[sunset785]

My family and I will be traveling with in October. It will be me, DH, and our two boys (3 and 5 years old). We have never done the Western Caribbean route but I am so stuck on excursions so I have a couple questions:

- Is it better to do a Carnival Excursion in Belize? If you say yes, then we would probably do Starfish Island but the cost is $$ compared to the two other excursions we are eyeing.

- The other excursions we are eyeing are an excursion to the Howler Monkey sanctuary. This tour is 3 hours long. The other one is a beach trip to Goff's Caye. Both are around the same price except Goff's Caye includes rum punch and is a bit longer. I just worry that going with an outside excursions means we could miss the tender in Belize. We are in port 8 am-5 pm.

 

What about in Roatan? If we don't do the Monkey's in Belize then we would like to do a Victor Bodden Tour that includes the monkeys and slothes, sightseeing, and two hours at West End Beach. This is a great price but isn't the beach in Roatan FREE at the port? Is West End Beach better? We are in port 9 am- 6 pm. Is there anything else to do at the port? Kayaking, snorkeling?

 

These are the two main places I am trying to figure out because I think I have Cozumel and Costa Maya all set on what we are going to do. Thanks!

[ABQrobin]

There are separate Forums for each PORT of CALL down lower on this website. Check there for each port for information. Tons of threads for each port to read.

[patfred]

One excursion we enjoy in roatan is maya key it is a carnival excursion

[reerun25]

There really is not much to do/see at the port area in Belize. If you plan to get off the ship, I would suggest an excursion. We don't book through the cruise line, we book direct. We ended up doing cave tubing, and loved it. I know most people feel safe with the excursions booked through Carnival due to the ship waiting if the excursion runs late. Remember, these tour guides/companies make their living doing this, so they rely on word of mouth for business. They would not be in business long if they had a reputation of not getting customers back to port in time.

[Vrybusy]

We have been to Belize a couple of times. We've done the small island/key excurisions through Carnival and they were very nice. We have also done the cave tubing through a private company. Although Carnival offered their version of the same, the private company provided us with a much longer and involved experience (more on-water time), carried the tubes for us, and even stopped at an area where the kids (and myself!) could jump off of the rocks into the water. They even provided a small meal at the end. Very good experience.

[reerun25]

We have been to Belize a couple of times. We've done the small island/key excurisions through Carnival and they were very nice. We have also done the cave tubing through a private company. Although Carnival offered their version of the same, the private company provided us with a much longer and involved experience (more on-water time), carried the tubes for us, and even stopped at an area where the kids (and myself!) could jump off of the rocks into the water. They even provided a small meal at the end. Very good experience.

 

Exact company we used!

[A&Jfamily]

Belize: with young kids I would book through the cruise line. I have done Goffs Caye through the cruise line and thought it was a good excursion for my then 3 yo and 8 yo boys. It's small and there are plenty of tide pools to play in. The snorkeling is good from shore so one parent can stay while the other takes a swim. I would chose this or Starfish and save the monkeys for Roatan. Any of these close places would not require booking with Carnival - we only do that if we are traveling long distances or have a long excursion.

 

We actually liked Island Marketing a tad better than Booden - at that time Booden didn't have a sloth. IM also took us to the iguana sanctuary. You can either add in west bay beach - they can take you to a nice place to eat or you could return to the port. But west bay is a much nicer beach imho and you can snorkel in places there - there isn't any at the port.

Roatan is my boys favorite port.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[sunset785]

Thanks for ideas. Might go ahead and book Starfish Island thru Carnival. Tendering sounds like a pain in Belize and maybe even more so if you don't have an excursion booked with Carnival. I don't know how my kids will do with all the wait time.