Trip/Tour operator Recommendations?

[factor40plus]

Anyone recommend any trips/tour companies we could organise?

[driftwood]

It is not clear whether you wish to open a tour company in Belize, manage a mismanaged company in Belize, or plan a tour for a group going to Belize. The answers would necessarily differ depending on your intent.

[factor40plus]

Sorry! Mean any half day trips my hubby & I could book independently.

[driftwood]

1. Altun Ha Tour--gorgeous Mayan site, somewhat rough road to get there;

2. Belize Zoo Tour--gorgeous animals and birds, excellent road;

3. Horsedrawn Carriage Tour of Belize City--nice fast horses, very cheerful, plenty of shopping opportunities (although not much merchandise)

4. Trolley Tour of Belize City--might be the same tour as above

5. The Museum of Belize--located in the old Belize jail building, behind the Bank of Belize: modern Belize history downstairs, world-class Mayan sculpture and ceramics display upstairs.

 

I had a longer list but I can't find it now--there are probably plenty more--I still recommend walking two blocks to the Radisson Taxi Drivers' Association bench and asking one of the drivers/guides for suggestions to fit your own interests rather than booking ahead, as there are only two of you to accommodate--MUCH less expensive than booking with ANYONE with a booking operation to pay for, and you can see for yourself what the driver's vehicle looks like before you discuss your plans with him. Don't book anything at a desk. Ask for Daniel Itzá if you want someone I know from personal experience is very dependable (he has a dark blue Toyota van); but Major Tom vouches for all the Radisson taxi drivers, and I would trust him to know for sure. :D

[crockea]

And went with cave-tubing.com. Had a blast and if we ever return would go with them again.

[driftwood]

Would you call that a "half-day tour," or were you just pushing your pal? Never fear, his paid commercial is on the Boards!

[kareng1]

Hi, we were in Belize with our cruise ship Feb. 21/08 and booked an independent tour guide to go cave-tubing and zip lining. He also offers many other types of tours all over Belize that he was telling us about since we loved Belize so much we were talking about going back for a longer period of time. His name is Vitalino Reyes and he was a lot of fun and full of interesting facts. You can check out his website at cavetubing.bz and if you e-mail they're great at getting right back to you! I would highly recommend him and will use him again if we go back to Belize!

[mwsrccl]

I just emailed Reyes and I am going to see how the prices are. I may book him. Hope he is as good as you say. Thanks for the info!

[bobj143]

Cave-tubing.com. We had a great time ATV's in the jungle and cave tubing. Twice the shipboard tour at half the price. Quality equipment, great guides. Book over the internet. They have years of rave reviews on Cruise Critic.

 

Butts up!

[Boo's Mom]

We used this tour operator for our day in Belize....

 

experience belize tours . com

 

Here is a link to my review:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=518965

 

[TheCruisingBrewers]

We went with them several years ago on their cruise to Shark and Ray Alley and it was amazing. In a boat with one other family, felt totally safe, the guides were terrific and the snorkeling the best we have done anywhere. Hands down the best cruise excursion ever. Those rays and nurse sharks are like big slimy puppies following you around. It is amazing.

 

We are planning to use them again in July.

[Paumavista]

We arranged a private tour with Ivar last week. (He was recommended by someone here on CC). He met our family of 8 and took us to an island beach and snorkling.....but he could/would have arranged anything we wanted. (next time I'll let him make a recommendation!)

 

If you'd like to contact him....Please email me and I'll provide you with his email....he'll email and phone you to discuss what you'd like to do.

 

Judy

Panamoka1958@yahoo.com

[olegvig]

We just returned from the cruise that stopped in Belize for one day (8am - 5pm). I would like to thank people who posted positive comments on Vitalino's cavetubing.bz. We followed the recommendations and are extremely happy with our choice. Below is a quick review of our trip that I also placed at traveladvisor.com. Hope it will benefit somebody.

 

On our April 2008 cruse with Carnival Legend to Exotic Western Caribbean, we visited Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan Island of Honduras. We had a great time everywhere, but Cave Tubing in Belize with Vitolino was by far the best experience of this and, possibly, all of our previous cruises (except maybe Hawaii).

 

This activity includes about an hour-long drive from the port, short but extremely pleasant hike towards the caves through the rain forest, the very cave tubing down the slow, shallow river, and a traditional lunch on the way back.

 

I saw and talked with people who made their reservations with the cruise and online, with large agencies, and realized how lucky we were to be in a small (only 10 people) group attended by two guides - Vitalino and his son.

 

First, about the logistics. We paid $45 pp (a typical online fee, much smaller than the cruise charges, of course) which included lunch. Email communication was very prompt and thorough. As soon as we disembarked and found Vitalino, we hit the road. The timing of the whole event was perfect. We never felt rushed nor did we feel any danger of being late for embarkation.

 

During the drive to the cave park, we had a nice tour of the Belize City and the country as a whole. The driver was eager to answer all questions with thoroughness. However, the real difference started appearing during the rain forest hike. Vitalino gave us many interesting details about the forest, different species of trees and animals, stopped many times to give us a taste and smell of some plants used by the natives. We watched a large, pregnant tarantula and tasted some coconut and termites (very pleasant, refreshing, a bit acidic taste - if you have guts to chew on those insects while they are trying to escape between your fingers). We saw large groups of cruise and other excursions passing by along the trail without any attention...

 

The most important were the unique views inside the caves. Firstly, our small group went higher than most others, so we did an extra cave for the same price. Most importantly, there are plenty of shallow and crowded places where you see those poor people struggling to move forward and paying very little attention to the breathtaking beauty around. Not us! We split into two small groups (3 and 7 people, Vitalino's young son took 3 of us), arranged a "train", and were smoothly pulled by our guides avoiding all the traps and traffic jams. We've heard lots of comments full of envy from the struggling individuals we were passing by...like "oh, you guys, must've bought first class tickets!" and such.

 

Again, the views inside the caves, especially in places with "windows" into the surrounding rain forest, are absolutely breathtaking and truly unique, incomparable to anything I've seen before. In addition, the moments of transferring from the darkness of the caves into the peaceful floating on your back under the blue sky, green forest canopy and worm (at that moment - not hot but pleasantly worm!) sun - I am melting in pleasure just trying to recall those moments! That's, of course, because we were carefully pulled by our guides, so we could lay back and relax...people around were still struggling to steer their tubes (not a very handy flotation device) and avoid being stuck on a shallow place.

 

On the way back - a nice traditional lunch with chicken stewed in coconut milk, rice and fried banana, and a worm, friendly conversation with hospitable and very proud of his own small business Vitalino. He even gave those of us who made reservations t-shorts with his logo...icing on the cake.

 

To finish - highly recommend this experience to anybody who loves nature explorations.

[codyody]

How long does the cave-tubing usually take? Reading the description on line it seems like 1/2 day, ending with lunch. As I read comments here, tho, it appears to take much longer.

[driftwood]

. . . contributes to the length of the cave-tubing "day." The more novel additions of ziplining and of ATV rides through the jungle--while they do take some pressure off the caves themselves, so that ideally more visitors per day can be filtered through the cavern system before "we must bid farewell to sunny Belize and head back to our floating hotels on the last or next-to-last tender of the day"--also require a time component. There is NO WAY to avoid about two hours of time on the road (with or without traffic) to and from the caves; there is no real way to avoid the 25 to 40-minute hike (depending on the health and energy of your fellow passengers); there is no way to avoid waiting for passengers from sometimes even different ships to make their way from their ship to the Cruiseship Terminal to make up your party.

 

So IMHO anyone selling this experience (which I enthusiastically recommend) as a "half-day tour" is selling you a pig in a poke, even under ideal conditions. One advantage of using independent operators is that they can deal with smaller groups, and may be able to get in and out more quickly in more comfortable vans; one advantage of using ships' tours is that your group is gathered and sent ashore in one of the earliest available tenders, making the job a little easier for the tour guide. It should probably be pointed out, however, that in Belize your ship does NOT lower its own tenders, but makes use of very high-speed, shallow draft tenders native to Belize; and the process of disembarking and embarking is therefore not wholly in your ship's control. There are often three ships or more in port on a "cruiseship day." You will not miss your ship at the end of an excursion day--it just doesn't happen--but it is possible that you will not be able to sit down for a comfortable lunch at for example Amigo's, whether you have paid for it or not. And you will get hungry, so I would recommend getting the meal as a takeout if, unfortunately, your tour runs short of time. No use complainin'! The food is good, and safe to eat, and worth more than you pay for it in US dollars. But they only cook up what they have orders for--when the food runs out, no more until tomorrow! :D

[Travel Angel]

My goodness "olegvig", your review is just about EXACTLY how our tour went with Major Tom, down to your description of the friendly knowelegable tour guides and even the price !!!

 

Glad to see you decided to let your 1st post be a review of your tour.

 

Isn't Cruise Critic a GREAT avenue to learn from while also useful for providing ideas of who to book with !

[mwsrccl]

My goodness "olegvig", your review is just about EXACTLY how our tour went with Major Tom, down to your description of the friendly knowelegable tour guides and even the price !!!

 

Glad to see you decided to let your 1st post be a review of your tour.

 

Isn't Cruise Critic a GREAT avenue to learn from while also useful for providing ideas of who to book with !

 

 

WOW do I detect sarcasim in this post or is it just me? :)

[driftwood]

. . . Travel Angel feels it is impossible to have a good cave tubing experience--or write about it later--unless one goes with Major Tom. :rolleyes:

 

But he certainly means well, and his advice has no doubt helped thousands of cruisers to safe and happy visits to Belize--Major Tom is a master at that.

 

It is true, however, that no one man or company will ever be able to handle the entire new volume of cruiseship visitors to Belize singlehanded. And most of those who do provide this cruise excursion are responsible and entertaining, Vitalino among them. :p

[Travel Angel]

WOW do I detect sarcasim in this post or is it just me? :)

 

Take it for what you feel it is..... But I feel the post was a masqueraded attempt to put in a plug for this tour vendor which occurs frequently on the Belize Boards.....

 

Driftwoods statement actually offends me simply because my comments about Major Tom are only offered on the boards when interjecting into an existing post that asks about tour operators or specifically him. I have NEVER stated that it is impossible to have a good cave tubing experience -or write about it later- unless using the service of Major Tom as Driftwood makes the accusation of.

 

Driftwood, you may be eloquent in all your posts and share alot of wisdom, but I feel you have stepped over the line on this post !

[driftwood]

You are NOT the Bulldog of the Boards, and it is really none of your business if ANYONE goes ANYWHERE and has a good experience--and wants to write in to the CC Boards to share that experience with other "Cool Cruisers." It is hard enough to encourage people to post on these boards, and responses such as the one mwsrccl noted from you can only be said to have a chilling effect on reasonable discourse. olegvig had posted an exceptionally well written and I believe valuable review of his experience, and he should have been congratulated for sharing a wonderful day with the rest of us.

 

I am as aware as you are that the boards are abused by some vendors, and I am as concerned as you are that these vendors are not nearly the calibre of Major Tom--but it is equally true that Major Tom is not the only experienced and responsible tour operator in Belize; and he would be the first to admit that. It is one thing if a "10,000+ poster" writes to the boards assertions that are manifestly false and misleading; it is another thing entirely when someone uses his first post to contribute something to all of us. Until you get a certified crystal ball, I suggest you back off. "Masqueraded attempt" indeed! :p:rolleyes:

 

It is true that I am not clear exactly what a "worm" sun is--when we went with Major Tom in January the sun was DEFINITELY "HAT."

[Travel Angel]

For the better of the board community, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree, and leave it at that. Nuff said. :D

[gypsyrose]

Wow...I'm thinking of booking a cruise that goes to Belize and came here to find some useful info to help me decide if I want to go here. It's hard to tell since there are so many posts by some of the same people that keep getting uglier and uglier. Why can't people just read a post and move on? Do you have to bash everyone who says something you don't believe or like. I think the review by olegvig is very helpful and I appreciate when people recommend a tour they liked. That is the whole point of this board. True, it may seem like free commercials, but it is also advice for fellow cruisers.

I'm sure these same people will now reply back and start berating me but I will ignore and move on.

Those with great recommendations for Belize, Bring it on. Still trying to decide what to book. And thanks to all the helpful advice.

[bound4somewhere]

Coral Breeze Tours-Hammerhead are awesome!

 

We booked the Caye Caulker/Shark Ray Alley Tour and it was lots of fun!

The staff were so friendly and very competent.

I also found out that I like Beliken beer that visit:D

 

Enjoy!

 

Kathy