cos24 Posted December 3, 2022 #1 Share Posted December 3, 2022 On a cruise but would like to go to a ruin independently. Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare crewsweeper Posted December 3, 2022 #2 Share Posted December 3, 2022 Which set of ruins? How much time in port? King David and Viator have tours to Altun Ha that are reasonably done within the typical cruise port day. Tours to Xunantunich or Lamanai are further away and with any traffic delays you could run the risk of missing the last tender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cos24 Posted December 3, 2022 Author #3 Share Posted December 3, 2022 1 hour ago, crewsweeper said: Which set of ruins? How much time in port? King David and Viator have tours to Altun Ha that are reasonably done within the typical cruise port day. Tours to Xunantunich or Lamanai are further away and with any traffic delays you could run the risk of missing the last tender. Thank you. Sorry, we’re there from 7 AM until 6 PM. Which tour operator do you recommend to go to Xunantunich? I am assuming Caracol is out of the question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare crewsweeper Posted December 4, 2022 #4 Share Posted December 4, 2022 King David has a public tour for up to 14 people and can do private tours. No designated lunch stop but could probably stop somewhere. Shore Excursioner has a city tour and Xunantunich with lunch but need about 6 hours (you'll most likely have 8+ given tender times). No idea of limits on numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQrobin Posted December 6, 2022 #5 Share Posted December 6, 2022 I wouldn't go independent in Belize for any of the ruins past Altun Ha. They are a long distance and if you get back late the ship will not wait for you. When we did Xunantunich thru our ship we got back barely in time, but since it was thru the ship it was fine. Lamanai was the same way, we got back to the pier and the line for tenders was over 30 minutes long.... but we had gone thru the ship so no issues. If you do independent and arrive after that "last tender" time, no guarantees. We've been to Belize 7 times now and our ship is always pulling up anchor right at the time they state. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCmommy Posted January 15, 2023 #6 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 12/6/2022 at 1:17 PM, ABQrobin said: I wouldn't go independent in Belize for any of the ruins past Altun Ha. They are a long distance and if you get back late the ship will not wait for you. When we did Xunantunich thru our ship we got back barely in time, but since it was thru the ship it was fine. Lamanai was the same way, we got back to the pier and the line for tenders was over 30 minutes long.... but we had gone thru the ship so no issues. If you do independent and arrive after that "last tender" time, no guarantees. We've been to Belize 7 times now and our ship is always pulling up anchor right at the time they state. Based on your comment, which independent would you recommend for Altun Ha? Only looking for ruins, possibly lunch and maybe a little of the city. No tubing or zip lining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byrdbrain55 Posted April 11, 2023 #7 Share Posted April 11, 2023 On 1/14/2023 at 4:29 PM, RCmommy said: Based on your comment, which independent would you recommend for Altun Ha? Only looking for ruins, possibly lunch and maybe a little of the city. No tubing or zip lining. We used King David (AlTourNative Belize Tours) to go to Altun Ha. If you are on one of the first tenders off the ship, you will most likely make it out to the site before all the tour buses. They stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the way back. We did a combo tour with Altun Ha and the Howler Monkey Sanctuary. It was very cool. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare starvenger Posted October 4, 2023 #8 Share Posted October 4, 2023 On 4/11/2023 at 6:11 PM, byrdbrain55 said: We used King David (AlTourNative Belize Tours) to go to Altun Ha. If you are on one of the first tenders off the ship, you will most likely make it out to the site before all the tour buses. They stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the way back. We did a combo tour with Altun Ha and the Howler Monkey Sanctuary. It was very cool. I've booked King David to go to Altun Ha based on the recommendations here. Hoping this will be good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byrdbrain55 Posted October 4, 2023 #9 Share Posted October 4, 2023 3 hours ago, starvenger said: I've booked King David to go to Altun Ha based on the recommendations here. Hoping this will be good! Make sure you are on one of the first tenders off the ship! You will probably have to be up early to get tender tickets. We were probably the second group of people at Altun Ha in the morning and I got great photos of the site with no people in them. The buses were just showing up as we were leaving. I have used them twice and they were great both times. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare starvenger Posted October 4, 2023 #10 Share Posted October 4, 2023 Yeah I'm trying to figure out the best strategy for that. Just go to where the cruise excursion folks are gathering and grab a ticket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuckoo7 Posted October 6, 2023 #11 Share Posted October 6, 2023 (edited) We did this one last year... URL says cave-tubing, but it's not. Short sightseeing, then the ruins, then a lunch at a local restaurant on the way back. https://shoreexcursioneer.com/belize/altun-ha-mayan-ruins-city-sightseeing-cave-tubing.html We weren't the first tender off and had to wait for another couple. Never felt rushed, though, and we were back with plenty of time to spare. I think they have a "back to cruise ship" guarantee. Edited October 6, 2023 by Cuckoo7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare starvenger Posted February 22 #12 Share Posted February 22 So a very late update to this. We got on the second tender but the process was maddeningly slow. Regardless, the tour guide was patiently waiting for us at the terminal and the tour was very good. Our guide (I believe his name was Vel) was excellent and got us to parts of the ruins that the bigger tours were skipping. Lunch was included for us, at a local place that seemed to just have "Diner" on the sign. Very simple food (stewed chicken, rice and beans, coleslaw) but very flavourful. Probably not something you'd normally get, but it really hit the spot for us. At the end of the day, big thumbs up for King David tours. Might try them for a Xunantunich tour next time we're in Belize. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sohail Afzal Posted March 14 #13 Share Posted March 14 Try belizetourbase comany. I had a great experience with them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airlink diva Posted August 19 #14 Share Posted August 19 I also suggest King David. I used them on my last cruise for a private solo tour. I went to Altun Ha (already been to several more distance ruins). I originally wanted to visit another upcoming Mayan ruin. But King David was honest with me saying the timing being on a cruise ship was too tight. I was on one of the first tenders for non cruise tours and was met and heading to the site. Since I've been to Belize over 10 times, no need for a city tour heading right to Altun Ha. Got there with only a few other local tour guides. It was wonderful very few people around able to take photos without anyone in them and my own guide. The best part my guide and I sat down near by and had a serious discussion about Altun Ha and comparing it to the others I visited, their timeline, the attempts for Belize getting items from museums that had taken their items returned and newer sites to consider on a non cruise and cruise visit. When I got ready to leave, the first of the cruise tours were arriving. I was given the option of eating local, but opt to return back to the ship. I was back on board over 3 hours until last tender. The pricing was only $20 more than a ship tour. It was worth it for me and if I do another visit to Belize either ship or flight will use King David for a tour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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