Cave Tubing Princess Excursion Review

[DavidsNana]

Took the Princess Cruises Cave Tubing excursion on 4/4/23 as the river is so far away from the port that after almost being left ashore years ago I am leery of doing an independent excursion when an hour or more away.  We were taken in large buses to the river.  It was about an hour away from the port. When we got to the area where the excursions start, it was pretty chaotic as there were many people there.  We needed to rent a locker for our things that we could not take on the tubing.  Lockers were $10 each.  They had water shoes for rental if you needed them (sorry that I did not note the price).  No flip flops are allowed so you need some kind of footwear that will stay on your feel.  We had water shoes of various kinds but the rest of our group of 7 had either crocs or wore their athletic shoes.  Warning, there are about 99% rocks of various sizes on the walk down to the river and when crossing and getting out of the river.  I would advise the crocs or athletic shoes as it was uncomfortable walking on the rocks wearing just water shoes.  I had kind of thin soled water shoes and I actually got stone bruises on the bottom of my feet.  Also there are stairs (approx. 20-25) to get down to the river and also when getting out.

 

Lunch was included and consisted of chicken, rice and beans and coleslaw.  No drinks were provided with the lunch, not even water so you need to buy drinks or take your own water.  Cokes were $5, did not notice what bottles of water were.  Fresh made blended drinks were $16 each.  One problem we had was that we did lunch first before the tubing and we were told to rent our lockers first and put everything in them then go get lunch but were not told that there were no drinks provided.  So all our money was locked up so had to go back and get money out for drinks.  Just a miss communication.

 

The guides were great and this excursion was fun inspite of not having the best footwear and the small miss communication about the money for drinks with lunch.  There were lines for everything though so just be prepared.  A line for the lockers and for lunch and for drinks.  Lines don't bother me so it was not a problem.  The water was very refreshing and the tubing fun and interesting.  The guide stopped and pointed out plants along the walk down to the river and gave a running commentary while we were in the caves about what we were seeing and the history and folklore.

 

You do need to be able to walk over the uneven path down to and from the river which probably took us 45 minutes down and less back out of the river and climb the stairs.  I would do this again in a heartbeat but I would definitely either wear the crocs or old athletic shoes with sturdy thick soles.

[merinski]

Thank you for this helpful review.

[emory2001]

Thanks for this. I was just looking at this excursion. Couple of questions:

1. Did you pay for the pay items with cash or credit card? If cash, what currency?

2. So was it a 45 minute walk to the river after the 1 hour bus ride?

[DavidsNana]

@emory2001Sorry I did not see your questions sooner.  I haven't been monitoring this board for awhile.

1. We paid in US cash for everything we purchased.  Did not check to see if they were taking credit cards, sorry.   Unless something is expensive, more cash than I have taken, I usually use cash.

2.  Yes, the walk was 45 minutes after the 1 hour bus ride.  However, we stopped along the way for the guide to tell us about the various plants we were seeing and also offered for us to try tasting ants!!  So the actual walking was not 45 minutes worth.

Looks like you might be visiting Belize on your Wonder cruise.  Hope you have a fabulous time.