Anyone done the zipline and cavetubing through RCCL

[sleepygengar]

I was wondering if anyone here has done the combo zipline and cave tubing with RCCL. We are on the Explorer in late March, and would like to try both, so this seems perfect. Any input would be great. Thanks in advance!

 

We have done ziplining in St. Maarten, but this time want to take our son as well. None of us have been tubing at all.

[sstephy]

We'll be on the Explorer in April and would love to know if you do end up booking with RCCL and then how you like the tour. I haven' read one review of a ships tour and that puzzles me. I've heard good things about cave-tubing.com and ncqadventuretours.com, but can't decide what to do. Time for these tours concerns me - not wanting to run late and feel pressure to get back to the ship,etc.

 

Keep me posted if you don't mind. Steph

I was wondering if anyone here has done the combo zipline and cave tubing with RCCL. We are on the Explorer in late March, and would like to try both, so this seems perfect. Any input would be great. Thanks in advance!

 

We have done ziplining in St. Maarten, but this time want to take our son as well. None of us have been tubing at all.

[sleepygengar]

I have the same concerns. I have always booked with the ship, and this is one of the main reasons. The other thing I have liked is always knowing where you will meet and getting an early start off the boat at tender locations. It doesn't seem anyone here uses the cruise ship excursions so I don't expect an answer to my question. However, I will almost certainly book this excursion through RCCL and will post how well it went on here as well. Hopefully it will be in time for yours. We get back April 1.

[sxmfan]

I just returned from a trip on the Miracle that stopped in Belize on 2/1. My 2 sisters and I booked a combination zipline and cave tubing tour with Nacho and Cynthia. I have nothing but fabulous things to say about them. I felt like I was on the deluxe tour compared to everything else I saw. We made it on the first tender and got out of the port with Cynthia in a van. She gave us a little history, etc as we drove out of town and to the Jaguar Paw resort. When somebody in a previous post said all tours park in the same spot, that is not true. With Cynthia and Nacho we parked right next to the zipline. The guys were there having their coffee. We were the first ones. We did not hear another person (besides the 3 of us and our 2 guides) while we were doing the ziplining. The 2 guides went with us to each platform. When it gets busy, they have guides that stay on each platform. They don't go with you. The first guide would go and would get to the next platform, then he would take out our camera (that he had in his pocket) and take pictures of us as we came across. We had a great time. We even got to meet the designer and builder of the course. He lives in Highlands, NC. After ziplining, we got back in the van and went over the big hill. Here we passed all kinds of people walking. They kept looking at us like "why am I not on that tour". It was priceless. Then we got to park down right at the entrance to the Jaguar Paw main building. We could go into the resort and change if we wanted. We were able to leave anything we wanted in the van. It was parked right next to the checkin and Nacho stayed with the van. Cynthia and a guide from Jaguar, Pedro, took us on the Tubing part. We collected our tubes, lights, etc and they tied a lifevest on the tube. We passed all of the other groups who had leaders barking orders at all the guests. We walked about 20 min in the jungle. It was a nice wide path that was not buggy or full of spiders and snakes or anything. It was actually a nice little walk in the woods. It was a little muddy at parts, but nothing crazy. The cruise people turned off before us (because they had been walking so far) and we went a bit farther. We got to go through 2 caves. The first was a small one and the second was a bit longer. Cynthia and Pedro linked us together and steered us along. I know if we had wanted to float alone, they would have let us. Cynthia has said that she has rescued quite a few cruise people in the dark in the caves. I wasn't really keen on bumping up against the sides or anything. It was really cool in the caves and not scary because Cynthia and Pedro were guiding us. They would point out formations and they paddled us over to see a little waterfall area. It was great!

After the tubing we went back to the van, got our dry clothes and we went back into the bathroom inside the resort to change and clean up. Then we had a nice lunch inside the restaurant in the resort (included in the price). After lunch Nacho showed us around the little resort. We saw the butterflies and the parrots and a little waterfall. Then it was time to go back to the boat.

Nacho and Cynthia are fabulous. They treat you like you are their family. The entire time I felt like I was on the "premium" tour. The really cater to your every need. Also, you get to spend time doing the things you came to do (zipline and tubing) vs. hiking, etc. They are always aware of the time. This is their business and their livelyhood. They will get you back to the boat on time.

I highly recommend them. Next time I get back to Belize, I will use them again and do some sort of other tour. Nacho loves to go to the ruins!

 

I am sure there are many good tour operators.....but I would go with Nacho and Cynthia any day!

 

Patty

[MistyRo76]

Patty-

 

Thanks for the great review on the tour. What was the timeline for your tour? We are in Belize from 8-5. I just want to make sure we have will have enough time. Also, if you could post the link to their website or contact info, that would be great.

 

I would love to do the zipline/cavetubing combo tour, for sure.

 

Thanks,

 

Misty

[jslcruiser]

Are you on the 3/25/07 sailing of Explorer? We are booked on that one and also wondering how the ship's tours compare to the private tour operators. Any idea how long it will take to get off the ship if we book a private tour? The descriptions of the private tour companies sound almost too good to be true.

[jslcruiser]

Patty,

 

I also appreciated your review and would love to know the timeline and cost. Thanks for the info.

 

Jan

[sleepygengar]

yes we are on the March 25th cruise. We have done several of the ship excursions and have been afraid to try anyting else, but this may change this time. We are very interested in the tour Nacho and Cynthia run, and it may save us some cash as well.

[seafun]

I'd love to see the contact info for those perople too, even if it is "thinly disguised" so as to be acceptable to the moderators.

The idea of the combination tour sounds great to me.

[jslcruiser]

Thanks for the detailed description. I would love to do the zipline but have some concerns. Does it require a lot of physical strength? How far did you have to climb to get to the first platform? Was it a ladder or hill (how steep)? How was the walk to the cave tubing -- long, steep, etc?

 

Thanks:)

Jan

[jslcruiser]

Glad I found you!:D

 

We have done several independent tours and found most of them to be better than the ones from the ship because they were more personalized not to mention more reasonable. Have you checked with any of the private tour operators yet? Do you know if there is a minimum number of people required?

 

By the way, have you checked the roll call forum for Explorer? There are a few people signed on for our sailing. I just signed onto that thread also.

 

Let me know if you might be interested in sharing a tour. How many are traveling in your group? As I mentioned, there are 4 of us, somewhat active -- 2 in our 50's, son 28, and daughter 30.

 

My email is liferelay@aol.com if you would like to contact me directly.

 

More later, Jan

[sxmfan]

The Miracle was in port in Belize from 8am - 5pm also. We made sure we were on the first tender. We just got to the tender area before anyone else and kind of made friends with the guy on duty at the tenders (a dancer from one of the shows). He merged us in with the Carnival operated tour group on the first tender. I think others have had luck going to the room where the tour is meeting and getting a sticker there for the tender. You definitely have to work the system somehow to get on with the tours.

 

We had a few people that had talked to us the day before on the tender about trying to go with Nacho and Cynthia. We did not see them on the first tender, so we assumed they were not coming. We met Nacho and Cynthia and Cynthia drove us and Nacho stayed behind to meet other groups from other boats. As it turned out, the group from our boat got on the second or third tender and met up with Nacho. He brought them down and they were there by the time we were finishing up on the ziplines. We waited for them to finish and we all did cave tubing together.

 

With only 3 of us it would have been $125 each. With 5 or more it was $110 each. This includes ziplining, cavetubing and a nice hot lunch in the resort (and of course very personal attention!). It was expensive, but worth every penny.

 

Go to their website at ncqadventuretours dot com ....

 

Patty