comparing cave tubing companies

[Travel Angel]

Find anyone but Major Tom!:mad: You'll be back to the port on time but most of your time is wasted because he is not organized at all. We got off the tender, no sign of Tom, a local pointed his son out. He had me as comming in on another ship and was not expecting me????For the next hour we went up and down the waterfront collecting people from the other ship, then people came walking up that wanted to join in, which meant we were PACKED on two vans and a station wagon. Some were tubing and zip liners, some had ordered lunch, all thrown together and off to the caves. The caves were nice and we always felt safe. At the end others were swimming and relaxinf in the river, we were rushed back to the parking lot so the ones that wanted to do the zip line would have time, then left standing in the parking lot while Tom carried them to the zip line. Then we were all taken to where lunch would be served to those that had ordered lunch and anyone else that wanted lunch. Wrong answer!! Most of us just wanted to get back to town to shop but had to wait for the few that wanted to eat. OK< I have to be hear might as well eat. NOPE, we only have enough for those who prepaid! Turned out not even enough for them, had to stop at another place to get them something to eat. The drive back to town was scarry:eek: Tom Jr. should not be allowed to drive. Just a little preplanning would have made this a nice trip, however until he gets his act together, find one of the others, not private Tom.

 

This seems odd that others that have used Major Tom have been well pleased and had exact OPPOSITE feelings that you SUPPOSEDLY experienced.....I find it odd that you had difficulty finding Major Tom as he was exactly where he said he would be with our tour and never a mention from anyone else posting on the boards of not being able to locate him. Our group had no problems finding him and he did not add any last minute poeple to our group as he only takes groups that are previously booked and if there are no shows, the group is just reducued for that tour, NOT INCREASED by adding last minute passengers as you state.

 

You make it as his tour is totally unorganized and I certainly did not find that with our group.... sounds to me like you are just trying to trash a good tour operator that comes highly recommended....while at the same time suggest using one of the other vendors w/out being obvious in your post. If the tour was that bad, I don't see why you did not discuss this with him at the end of the tour and perhaps requested a refund. Apparently you did some research in who you chose for your tour or you would have selected another to begin with.

[Eileen G]

A negitive report doesn't suprise me. Everyone gets one once in a while for various reasons. We will be doing with Major Tom on Nov. 15 and I will write a full report when we return.

[Travel Angel]

A negitive report doesn't suprise me. Everyone gets one once in a while for various reasons. We will be doing with Major Tom on Nov. 15 and I will write a full report when we return.

 

Am not saying a negative report is a bad thing, just seemd odd that this report was so OPPOSITE of what myself and others have reported.... almost like it was exxagerated and intended to harm rather than be factual.

 

I weigh out all reviews I read on anything, but this one seemed to be way over the top regarding criticism.

 

Anxious to hear your thoughts after you return : )

[janikh]

THanks for the info. I am trying to convince the other 3 in my group that they can do this!

[thesawch]

I agree with travel Angel.Sounds like he is trying to slam Major Tom for other reasons.That is the first negative thing i have heard about him on CC.thesawch

[crzer]

THanks for the info. I am trying to convince the other 3 in my group that they can do this!

Believe me, I wa able to do it. I am a the biggest chicken of all. I live in FL and do not go in the yards becaue of all the critters. I did not see any at all in the path ato the caves or the caves themselves other than 2 bats. which jsut flew away with all the noise. I did not feel any little fish snacking at my buttom, but one of the crew guides said there minnows sorry about the spelling in the river small fish that tend to nibbleat your butt when hanging down in the water, so I kind of tended to keep mine up most of the time while in the cave. once out you can see the clean crystal water, and then I relax and butts down. I did wear my life jacket at all times. 890% of the people did not my hubby included. liek I said before I do not like water, and it was super nice. Hope you can talk your companions into going with ya. If not they miss out.

Addie

[driftwood]

"Am not saying a negative report is a bad thing, just seemed odd that this report was so OPPOSITE of what myself and others have reported.... almost like it was exaggerated and intended to harm rather than be factual."--Travel Angel [edited for spelling by driftwood]

 

I certainly concur with Travel Angel, even if his spelling was a little excited. An earlier post of mine was apparently a bit too comprehensive to survive on this string. defaultet's review above seems to say all that needs to be said. Competition is keen, but the temperature of the water and the nibbling of the fish should be pretty near the same for all parties.

[cristdom]

Hi, we just got back from the 10/20 sailing on the Glory and had followed recommendations from this board and booked with Major Tom. When we first got off the tender, didn't see him as we walked too far but once we asked, everyone knew where "major tom" was and directed us to him. He was expecting us, a group of 8. He needed to wait for 4 others off the Glory, then we'd be ready to go. 2 of the 4 were going ziplining. He sent them off with a separate guide, Linda and did not send them with us, though we wound up running into them in the caves later.

 

It was very organized and we had Carlos/Charlie as our driver. We were the first group to get to the caves so had a relaxing walk to the river. Note a couple of tarantula's crossed our walking path, about the size of the palm of your hand. They were more frightened of us than we were of them. Continued on our way to the water. Beautiful river. We floated into the cave with Charlie never far from us. He didn't have us hook together as we were by ourselves and he wasn't concerned about us getting lost or mixed up in another group.

 

we floated thru the caves and paddled when he told us too and got our butts up when he told us to also. We did run into some of the cruise folks and that tour seemed to be crazy with a ton of people.

 

We did not opt for lunch and made it back to the port in plenty of time for shopping and margarita's at a port restaurant. We would highly recommend Major Tom and his group.

 

thank you to all of you at cruise critic who recommended him.

[Travel Angel]

So happy that our suggestions of who to book this tour with met all your expectations.....Too bad that you didn't take advantage of the meal, you missed out on a taste of Belize to finish off the tour !

 

Cruise Critic is a wealth of knowledge that if used to your advantage can not only be an asset to travel planning, but also a great way to meet a bunch of great folks !

 

PS.... driftwood, I hope this met your spelling requirements despite being in such a haste to post on this one !

[driftwood]

Don't worry, Travel Angel, you will catch me up soon enough: I find my fingers slipping over the keys all the time, and you may notice my posts being edited two or three times--by me--in the twenty minutes allotted; or in seconds, if by someone else!

 

You also reinforced my argument that the truth will make itself known through its own virtue, without much help from anyone. And that accidents happen, sometimes even to the best-laid shore excursions.

 

I just felt your observation was so true and significant to this string that I wanted to quote you directly--but I didn't want to repeat the minor spelling error, or perhaps everyone on the boards would take to speliing "exaggerate" the same way: as we find President Hoover's clumsy coining of "normalcy," when evidently the ancient English word "normality" was beyond the capacity of his vocabulary, has been adopted by every American newspaper editor as the "rite wurd to use."

 

Certainly I intended no personal slight. A typo is a typo! ;)

[Travel Angel]

Don't worry, Travel Angel, you will catch me up soon enough: I find my fingers slipping over the keys all the time, and you may notice my posts being edited two or three times--by me--in the twenty minutes allotted; or in seconds, if by someone else!

 

You also reinforced my argument that the truth will make itself known through its own virtue, without much help from anyone. And that accidents happen, sometimes even to the best-laid shore excursions.

 

I just felt your observation was so true and significant to this string that I wanted to quote you directly--but I didn't want to repeat the minor spelling error, or perhaps everyone on the boards would take to speliing "exaggerate" the same way: as we find President Hoover's clumsy coining of "normalcy," when evidently the ancient English word "normality" was beyond the capacity of his vocabulary, has been adopted by every American newspaper editor as the "rite wurd to use."

 

Certainly I intended no personal slight. A typo is a typo! ;)

 

Shoot.... I san spelle as gooder as the nex guy !!!

 

One day I wil ketch ya cuz I have my wbesters dikshuary at my side !

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

...or perhaps everyone on the boards would take to speliing "exaggerate" the same way...

 

Certainly I intended no personal slight. A typo is a typo! ;)

 

 

AMEN, Brother!

 

:D

[janikh]

We have decided to do the cave-tubing trip! We are all excited. But now, on to the important question - lunch! Do most people do the lunch option or do more try to do it on their own? I realize it is only $5.00. However, we don't want to make it difficult for the other people on our excursion by making a choice that will inconvenience others.

[driftwood]

Thanks to NEW 2 CRUISING, even an old sea-beaten log can be shown to prove his own assertions: "I find my fingers slipping over the keys all the time . . ." Now if I could get my old eyes to slip in the same direction before the "edit" clock runs out, perhaps I might be a model for you all! But the fact is, even I need a dikshuary from time to time--and communication from my brain to my fingertips!

 

It is a lot to ask, even of a mummer of the Democrat Party!

 

And that is why--when I get to Belize--I plan to consult the most experienced experts and hope for the best. If they don't make ANY mistakes, perhaps I can afford a few!

 

Hope everyone has a barrel of fun!

[Travel Angel]

We have decided to do the cave-tubing trip! We are all excited. But now, on to the important question - lunch! Do most people do the lunch option or do more try to do it on their own? I realize it is only $5.00. However, we don't want to make it difficult for the other people on our excursion by making a choice that will inconvenience others.

 

Everytime I have gone on a cave tubing tour, all guests opted for the lunch and was well worth it to taste the Belizian Flair.....I wouldnt worry about it and book your tour w/ lunch and enjoy an unfogettable meal at the same time !

[nybumpkin]

Everytime I have gone on a cave tubing tour, all guests opted for the lunch and was well worth it to taste the Belizian Flair.....I wouldnt worry about it and book your tour w/ lunch and enjoy an unfogettable meal at the same time !

We're booked with Major Tom, but didn't specify lunch - do you know whether we will be able to sign up when we arrive, or should I e-mail Tom now to add lunch?

[Travel Angel]

We're booked with Major Tom, but didn't specify lunch - do you know whether we will be able to sign up when we arrive, or should I e-mail Tom now to add lunch?

 

I would email in advance so he can have it on record in advance. You will have a great trip and realize you have made a new friend you can call family after taking his tour !

[zandramarie]

We were also on the same tour with North Carolina Cruiser, and he states exactly what happened. Although Major Tom's son was waiting on the docks for us and had my name on the board we did wait for others coming off the other ship and I was standing there when the other women came up and asked to be added to the group, that she was a cruise critic member etc. The message I had got from Tom was there were 18 in the group that day, 8 were my group in one van, 10 in the other group in another van. There were 28 altogether that day and my group of 8 were separated into the 2 vans (12 in each, a bit crowded) and the station wagon. The station wagon held the last 4 of our group and to add to the fiasco:) not only did it not have air conditioning, it had a flat tire on the way back and our guys changed the tire for her. My husband was not happy with Tom's son driving either. We got back to port and had 30 minutes before the last tender left and we were the 1st vehicle back. He was not prepared for the 28 people that day. The cave tubbing was throughly enjoyed and also the lunch. Would we book with Major Tom again, maybe, and would hope the group wasn't that big.

North Carolina Cruiser was giving his opinion, which Cruise Critic is all about and it wasn't exxaggerated.

[carnival lover]

Thanks to everyone for their reviews.. We are going to book with cave-tubing.com

My main worry was getting back to the ship on time. We have never booked outside of Carnival.

Thanks!

[anaslile]

Just a quick question:

 

What are both Major Tom's and Yhony's policies for getting you back to the ship in time? I know I've read that Major Tom will arrange a special tender, but what about Yhony?

[Travel Angel]

Just a quick question:

 

What are both Major Tom's and Yhony's policies for getting you back to the ship in time? I know I've read that Major Tom will arrange a special tender, but what about Yhony?

 

I can only speak for Major Tom's policy and suggest emailing the other as well as Tom for a specific answer rather than get an answer that may be incorrect or has changed recently.

[Travel Angel]

Thanks to everyone for their reviews.. We are going to book with cave-tubing.com

My main worry was getting back to the ship on time. We have never booked outside of Carnival.

Thanks!

 

I am glad that you weighed out all the opinions of whom to book with..... every tour operator has his pros and cons that YOU must be comfortable with.... my decison was in the other direction than yours, but I was well pleased with my choice as I am sure you will be with yours.

 

Have a great cave tubing experience.

[KeywestK]

DH and I just returned from a wonderful cruise on the Enchantment OTS, and one of the ports was Belize. Months prior to sailing, I did a lot of research on cave-tubing in Belize, and based on excellent reviews I contacted Cave-tubing.com. Yhony was excellent to deal with, answered all of my emails (and there were many!) promptly and with great respect and consideration to my questions and concerns. The day we arrived in Belize, he was there at the tender terminal at the exact location he specified. While we waited for the rest of people to arrive, he had one of his drivers take us on a little bus tour of the area, rather than just sitting around waiting for the other folks to arrive from the tenders.

 

The bus ride to the rain forest was fun. Yhony was fun and entertaining, as well as informative. His staff was superb in every way. During the hike to the caves, his staff carried tubes for many of the people (myself included), and assisted anyone who needed it. They all made it a fantastic experience. These people really wanted us to enjoy ourselves and have a great time.

 

If anyone is looking to book a cave-tubing experience in Belize, you will not go wrong with Yhony and Cave-tubing.com.

 

Karen

[asader83]

I also did the c-t.com trip, and I second everything said above! We were thrilled with our trip. It was great. And a great price, too!

[Travel Angel]

I also did the c-t.com trip, and I second everything said above! We were thrilled with our trip. It was great. And a great price, too!

 

When did you do your cave tubing adventure ? You list of cruises shows 2006 as your last cruise ?