Belize Snorkel Excursion on the Sun

[Warm Weather Fan]

I was hoping to get some opinions about the snorkel excursions in Belize. I will be on the Sun on April 8. The trip to Shark/Ray Alley and Ambergris sounds interesting, but was wondering how long the boat takes to the destination and how rough is the water, how much time do you get to spend on Ambergris, is the snorkeling pretty difficult, etc?

Also, their excursion on the catamaran is possible; do you have to tender to pick up the catamaran, and does it drop you back at Sun, plus what island and snorkeling area does it go to?

I am also considering the trip with Coral Breeze.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Zeno]

On our last cruise (in Jan 2006) we took a snorkeling excursion with NCL (It involved snorkeling and a stop at the beach at Bannister Cay. We were picked up and dropped off at the ship.

Bad:

Honestly I cannot recommend it. It was not really bad BUT there were too many people on the boat for the number of crew and the water was very rough. We could not hear the safety instructions and announcements.

There were not enough crew to assist people coming out of the water - a real issue when the water was this rough. My husband had to help a couple of people who were having real difficulty getting back into the boat.

 

Good:

A crew member made sure everyone had on their life jackets before we got into the water.

The photos taken were very good.

 

Personally I think you would do better with a smaller group with a private operator (look for one on the Ports of Call board that has been recommended by a number of people).

[Warm Weather Fan]

Thanks for the info, really appreciate it. Was it the catamaran tour you went on?

[jennifer.c21]

I have been doing a lot of research on private, non-cruise ship snorkeling tours, and had it narrowed down to the four below.

 

1. Star Tours (We booked with them)

 

2. Tsunami Adventures (They only responded to my first email, and then did not respond after that when I had more questions)

 

3. Sea Sports Belize (They tell you you have to wait until they have a minimum number of people signed up before they'll guarantee the trip, and they'll call you a couple weeks before your cruise. Too nerve racking for us)

 

4. Coral Breeze (They always get rave reviews here, but we wanted something a little more private, and Coral Breeze only takes you to 2 stops, rather than the three stops from Star Tours).

 

We finally decided on Star Tours based on; a. Their rapid response rate to ALL of my questions (Ramon, the owner was great) b. They only take up to 12 people on their boats, and usually don't even have that many according to reviews I've read, and from Ramon. c. They take you to three different places, including Shark/Ray Alley. d. You also get to spend time on Caye Caulker ( a little undeveloped island which gets rave reviews here). e. The cost was only $45 each.

 

I also looked into going to Ambergris Caye. It seemed like a long trip, and the one place I looked into there, Grumpy and Happy, said we would have to take a plane there. It wasn't all that expensive for the flight, but seemed too involved.

 

Hope this info is helpful.