Has anyone used Fab Tours lately?

[kcparrothead]

I was wondering if Fab Tours snorkel/beach tour still goes to Bannister Island. I've read some old threads that mention they might be moving to another island, and would like some info on that if they have. Thanks in advance!!!

[kcparrothead]

So, has noone used Fab Tours the last few months??

[kebboli]

Have not used them but talked to some of them when we were there in April, they do have a new island that they go to instead of Bannister. I believe they have a web site also just do a search for Fab tours Belize......

[kcparrothead]

If anyone is interested, I found out that Fab Tours now goes to Spanish Caye instead of Bannister Island.

[kcparrothead]

Wanted to see if anyone has taken Fab Tours since my first post. I'm really curious about Spanish Caye, what is it like? Does it have a nice beach, tiki bar, etc....?

[Nitra Renee]

Just got back Sunday (10/12/08) from our cruise to the Western Caribbean aboard the Carnival Legend. We too didn't want to take the Carnival excursion to their private beach and opted to try to do it on our own. Before we left, I contacted Coral Breeze to see if they would transport us to Bannister Island and they replied very quickly and said that no one else was able to take visitors there, just the cruselines. So, we tendered in to Belize only to be hoarded by the locals offering various trips. We went with Fab Tours because they had the yellow golf shirts bearing their logo and appeared to be legit. We were the first 8 to sign up for their private beach tour at $30 pp or we could do the private beach and snorkeling for $49 pp, but we just went for the beach part. They said that they like to get between 20-25 before they would take off, so we headed up to the Wet Lizard for a couple of drinks. When it was finally time to leave, we got in their boat (Sponge Fab or something like that) and sat and sat and sat while they tried to sign more people up for the excursion. We all sat there for so long in the blazing sun sweating our rears off while they got about 10 more people sardined in the boat for a total of about 40 people which was way too many. We headed out to the island and about a 1/4 way there, the motors hit something (too much weight in the boat) and stopped working at full speed. We stopped and they tried to fix them and got one to work at 1/2 speed. Did I say it was blazing hot outside? Well the 15-20 minute ride took about 40-45 minutes. We got to the beach and it was a complete joke. The beach was crap, the water was cloudy, and there were PVC pipes coming out of these few buildings right by what they considered the beach. It smelled like a complete sewer and the sand in the water was like quick sand when you would walk out in it. We weren't even there for 10 minutes when a lady on the tour with us went up to one of the people from Fab Tours and said that she wanted to go back and that the place was nasty. They just laughed at all of us when we chimed in that we wanted to go back. We seriously were waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out and say that we had been punked! Meanwhile, they brought another boat out in case they couldn't use the first one we were on and it was a piece of junk and very small. Almost everyone on the beach part of the tour begged for them to take us back and they had one excuse after another and wouldn't. When they finally agreed to take us back if we had at least 18 people ready to go back, they packed us into the 2nd boat they brought over and then everyone else said they wanted to go to so they filled up the first boat too. We waited in those boats for at least a 1/2 an hour while they messed around. Did I mention that it was blazing hot outside? It got so bad that people on the boats started yelling at the Tour people. Our boat demanded that they take us directly to the ship and they finally did. Our first contact with Fab Tours was at 9:30 am and we finally got back on board at 3:00 pm (last tender was at 4:00 pm). It was a total wasted day. My advice to everyone is DO NOT DO THE PRIVATE BEACH TOUR WITH FAB TOURS OR YOU'LL BE SORRY!!!!!

[Addictedtwo]

Thanks for the "heads up"

 

Personally I think you should post this as a separate thread so all can read.

[sa_girl]

Just got back Sunday (10/12/08) from our cruise to the Western Caribbean aboard the Carnival Legend. We too didn't want to take the Carnival excursion to their private beach and opted to try to do it on our own. Before we left, I contacted Coral Breeze to see if they would transport us to Bannister Island and they replied very quickly and said that no one else was able to take visitors there, just the cruselines. So, we tendered in to Belize only to be hoarded by the locals offering various trips. We went with Fab Tours because they had the yellow golf shirts bearing their logo and appeared to be legit. We were the first 8 to sign up for their private beach tour at $30 pp or we could do the private beach and snorkeling for $49 pp, but we just went for the beach part. They said that they like to get between 20-25 before they would take off, so we headed up to the Wet Lizard for a couple of drinks. When it was finally time to leave, we got in their boat (Sponge Fab or something like that) and sat and sat and sat while they tried to sign more people up for the excursion. We all sat there for so long in the blazing sun sweating our rears off while they got about 10 more people sardined in the boat for a total of about 40 people which was way too many. We headed out to the island and about a 1/4 way there, the motors hit something (too much weight in the boat) and stopped working at full speed. We stopped and they tried to fix them and got one to work at 1/2 speed. Did I say it was blazing hot outside? Well the 15-20 minute ride took about 40-45 minutes. We got to the beach and it was a complete joke. The beach was crap, the water was cloudy, and there were PVC pipes coming out of these few buildings right by what they considered the beach. It smelled like a complete sewer and the sand in the water was like quick sand when you would walk out in it. We weren't even there for 10 minutes when a lady on the tour with us went up to one of the people from Fab Tours and said that she wanted to go back and that the place was nasty. They just laughed at all of us when we chimed in that we wanted to go back. We seriously were waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out and say that we had been punked! Meanwhile, they brought another boat out in case they couldn't use the first one we were on and it was a piece of junk and very small. Almost everyone on the beach part of the tour begged for them to take us back and they had one excuse after another and wouldn't. When they finally agreed to take us back if we had at least 18 people ready to go back, they packed us into the 2nd boat they brought over and then everyone else said they wanted to go to so they filled up the first boat too. We waited in those boats for at least a 1/2 an hour while they messed around. Did I mention that it was blazing hot outside? It got so bad that people on the boats started yelling at the Tour people. Our boat demanded that they take us directly to the ship and they finally did. Our first contact with Fab Tours was at 9:30 am and we finally got back on board at 3:00 pm (last tender was at 4:00 pm). It was a total wasted day. My advice to everyone is DO NOT DO THE PRIVATE BEACH TOUR WITH FAB TOURS OR YOU'LL BE SORRY!!!!!

 

Thanks for your review on Fab Tours I am also considering them. However I also noticed on another post you gave the Legend a bad review. This is the first bad review of the Legend I have seen for a long time.

[Addictedtwo]

Just got back Sunday (10/12/08) from our cruise to the Western Caribbean aboard the Carnival Legend. We too didn't want to take the Carnival excursion to their private beach and opted to try to do it on our own. Before we left, I contacted Coral Breeze to see if they would transport us to Bannister Island and they replied very quickly and said that no one else was able to take visitors there, just the cruselines. So, we tendered in to Belize only to be hoarded by the locals offering various trips. We went with Fab Tours because they had the yellow golf shirts bearing their logo and appeared to be legit. We were the first 8 to sign up for their private beach tour at $30 pp or we could do the private beach and snorkeling for $49 pp, but we just went for the beach part. They said that they like to get between 20-25 before they would take off, so we headed up to the Wet Lizard for a couple of drinks. When it was finally time to leave, we got in their boat (Sponge Fab or something like that) and sat and sat and sat while they tried to sign more people up for the excursion. We all sat there for so long in the blazing sun sweating our rears off while they got about 10 more people sardined in the boat for a total of about 40 people which was way too many. We headed out to the island and about a 1/4 way there, the motors hit something (too much weight in the boat) and stopped working at full speed. We stopped and they tried to fix them and got one to work at 1/2 speed. Did I say it was blazing hot outside? Well the 15-20 minute ride took about 40-45 minutes. We got to the beach and it was a complete joke. The beach was crap, the water was cloudy, and there were PVC pipes coming out of these few buildings right by what they considered the beach. It smelled like a complete sewer and the sand in the water was like quick sand when you would walk out in it. We weren't even there for 10 minutes when a lady on the tour with us went up to one of the people from Fab Tours and said that she wanted to go back and that the place was nasty. They just laughed at all of us when we chimed in that we wanted to go back. We seriously were waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out and say that we had been punked! Meanwhile, they brought another boat out in case they couldn't use the first one we were on and it was a piece of junk and very small. Almost everyone on the beach part of the tour begged for them to take us back and they had one excuse after another and wouldn't. When they finally agreed to take us back if we had at least 18 people ready to go back, they packed us into the 2nd boat they brought over and then everyone else said they wanted to go to so they filled up the first boat too. We waited in those boats for at least a 1/2 an hour while they messed around. Did I mention that it was blazing hot outside? It got so bad that people on the boats started yelling at the Tour people. Our boat demanded that they take us directly to the ship and they finally did. Our first contact with Fab Tours was at 9:30 am and we finally got back on board at 3:00 pm (last tender was at 4:00 pm). It was a total wasted day. My advice to everyone is DO NOT DO THE PRIVATE BEACH TOUR WITH FAB TOURS OR YOU'LL BE SORRY!!!!!

 

Nitra Renee Interesting that you should post this as I had sent an email requesting info then I read your post and decided to cut and past and send off. I got an interesting reply from them that you might like to read.

If your interested send me an email and I'll send it to you. larryhall81@hotmail.com Put Fab tours in header so i will recognize it.

[Purplehaze21]

I was looking at Fab tours. Not sure if its good or not now?

[Leosmom]

Nitra Renee Interesting that you should post this as I had sent an email requesting info then I read your post and decided to cut and past and send off. I got an interesting reply from them that you might like to read.

If your interested send me an email and I'll send it to you. larryhall81@hotmail.com Put Fab tours in header so i will recognize it.

 

 

larryhall,

I was also considering Fab Tours after doing a bit of research.

Can you please enlighten all of us at cruise critic regarding your

correspondence with them?

 

Thanks!

[andrew3kids]

I just returned from a Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Dream and one of our stops was Belize. Prior to my arrival I had set up an excursion with Daniel Fabro, the owner of Fab tours. We were a party of 9 (4 adults and 5 children). When we got there they told us we would have to 35 minutes so they could try to get nine more people. We reluctantly agreed, not that we had any choice in the matter. After 45 minutes they came back and said they needed 10 more minutes and if they didn't sign anyone else on they would run it with just our party (which became 11 after WE found two other people on our cruise to join us). Fiftenn minutes go by and they said they needed another 10 minutes for the boat to get there. After ANOTHER minutes they said they needed to gas the boat up. AT that point I said if the boat isn't ready in 10 minutes I want our money back. Fifteen minutes later they came to us and said to go in the office and get our money. After nearly two hours of stringing us along and making every excuse they could, they wasted our day in Belize and disappointed our 5 children!!!!

 

NEVER and I say NEVER use Fab tours for anything. Don't believe anything positive you read on any of these sites. They are a shady group of people who can not be trusted. If you decide to use them, you will most likely think back to this post and regret that you did not take my advice!

[Luvsnorkeling]

Our experience with them was only so-so. We did get to our destination that day (after a long wait like everyone else described). The snorkel destinations were poor (not much to see) and the island where we were taken afterwards was not much to write home about either. The boat ride there and back was so rough, fast and bouncy that it about pounded our spines into the top of our heads. We would not go with them again.