Cave Tubing in Belize

[myangel]

Has anyone done this excursion? My husband and 2 boys are thinking about doing this, and need opinions from people who have done this. Thanks!

[Snowball]

[font=Comic Sans MS][color=navy]We are thinking of doing the cave tubing in Belize too. I found some info on it on the Ports of Call board, so you might want to look over there. I would also like to hear from people that booked the excursion through Carnival, to see what the difference is (besides price, of course).[/color][/font]

[Yellowjacket1]

Our family of 4 (myself and DW = 47, DD = 20 and DS = 16) did the cave tubing last July through Reggie ([url]www.regtours.com[/url]) and experienced the best excursion we've ever had. You'll have a GREAT time. Reggie was very knowledgeable and very professional and we can HIGHLY RECOMMEND him. The "river" is more like a big creek and is only about a foot or two deep in most places (but can get to about 12 feet deep in some of the pools). It was both relaxing and exciting at the same time. Be sure and wear some old tennis shoes (not water shoes) while on the excursion. At some points you have to get up from your tube and walk along, and the "river" bed is not smooth. Also, ANYTHING (camera, clothes, etc.) will get wet, so be prepared.

Steve

[sbmama]

I have to second doing this excursion through Reggie. My son and I did this last summer and had a blast! I would love to go back to Belize and spend a week some day. Of course, I'd have to do the cave tubing again!

Susan in VA

[myangel]

Thanks all for your input! I just requested an online registration form from Xtreme !!!

[SAYHEYRENEE]

Debbie -go with Reggie tubing. He is great. Me and my son had the best time better and cheaper than the ships tour.

[gsb]

ntnt

[aggieastrosfan]

Does Reggie do the second cave? That was the thing we liked best about X-Stream, was the second cave that no one else did with us. Just our group of 10 in this very quiet, very dark (we all turned our head lamps off) cave was worth the independent booking alone! And oh, yeah, it was $30 cheaper than the ship's tour. :cool:

[dixiegirl]

Does anyone have the web address for Reggies tour? The link above does not work.

[gsb]

[email]try---regtour@btl.net[/email].

[NYJennn]

In your post you said not to wear water shoes for this. Others have said to wear water shoes or strap-on sandals. I was curious why you recommend NOT to wear water shoes. We will be doing this excursion with X-Stream in August and need to be prepared!

Thanks!
Jen

[rlbissett]

With X-stream. I was wondering if anybody has info about getting off the ship and tendering in on time to meet the tour. I have heard that they take the ship tours off first. Has anyone had experience with this? I am concerned about missing our tour because we can't get off the ship! Any hints or advise is appreciated!!! :p

Thanks,
Lexi

[aggieastrosfan]

[quote name='rlbissett']With X-stream. I was wondering if anybody has info about getting off the ship and tendering in on time to meet the tour. I have heard that they take the ship tours off first. Has anyone had experience with this? I am concerned about missing our tour because we can't get off the ship! Any hints or advise is appreciated!!! [/QUOTE]
Just meet with the ship's cave tubing excursion. They don't check tour tickets until you're getting on the bus, which is AFTER the tender ride. When you get off the tender, just veer off towards where you're meeting your guide.

[rlbissett]

Thanks aggieastrofan!

[Izzy Bee]

NYJenn, water shoes don't have the thick soles needed. You hike about 45 minutes on a path covered with "big" pebbles..aka stones! We wore our older sneakers and then just left them there...someone working at the tour could probably have used them as they had plenty of miles left and ones less thing for us to log back home.
We did this tour while aboard the NCL Dream ...and used the ship's tour. It was great! There are places to change clothes and leave your stuff while you tube. The funniest thing was looking up while in the cave and seeing...orange eyes swimming towards me!!I thought it was an alligator but turns out the owners have a dog and he went on our tour with us!! Seems he herds folk like a shepard dog. We had lunch there and it was wonderful. I was tempted to use X-stream or Reggies but worried about maybe the bus breaking down and us be left. Turns out the bus was a great big air conditioned bus and we were giving a tour of Belieze the way there and back..You will love it. My daughter did Shark Ray Alley and raved about it too..Either way is a win win situation.

[Terre]

[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=blue]We used X-Stream and loved it! We chose X-Stream because they take smaller groups - ours had only 10, while Reggie's had about 50. We stayed away from Reggie's group as long as possible, but at one point everyone kind of merges together. Richard still kept us together.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#0000ff]Also, Richard hires guards to watch the bus that is locked while we are tubing, I don't think Reggie's van is locked and I'm not sure about guards for them. We felt safe leaving our wallents in the van.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#0000ff][/color][/size][/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#0000ff]I would book with X-Stream again. It's a wonderful experience and Richard did a great job.:D [/color][/size][/font]

[cruzinpsycharnp]

We went with Reggie and had a great time. We did over 4 caves. It was so much fun, a laugh a minute. Reggie rules!

[babs275]

We went with X-stream in June.

First let me say that I loved the day - it was relaxing and fun.

And then...

The bus we were on apparently had transmission problems and the driver didn't tell Richard. All the passengers had fallen asleep on the way back - all except for one who woke up as we were passing a marker that said Belize City 30 miles...we were going 30mph...and had 45 min to get to the last tender! She called that to Richards attention who then began to scramble to get vans out to meet us and race us into town. THEN we hit 2 funeral processions - one on the bridge to get to the tender dock. We ended up jumping out of the van and running down the street - all the while being heckled by the locals.

Not a great way to end the day! :eek:

Moral of the story - while many operators are highly recommended, do not let your guard down about keeping yourself safe and getting back in time

[dixiegirl]

So, would all of you say it is better to spend the extra money and book through the ship than to be left behind and have to find your way back to the ship if something happened??

My biggest fear is that the ship will leave us. While I know it is rare that this happens, it IS a possibility I want to avoid.

I have done my research and if you book through X-Stream it is $60 and if you book through the ship it is $89.00 (Glory ship that is). For 2 people it is only $58 more.

What is your opinion?