Mosquitoes--Just How Bad?

[firstcruise92]

We will be going to Belize on the Carnival Glory in a few weeks and I have read about the mosquitoes. We already booked Carnival's Bacab Eco Park & Wild Wings Butterfly House excursion. I am thinkiing of buying something that has DEET. Is that effective? I also read about soaking clothing in permethrin but I understand that can kill butterflies which we definitely don't want to do. Anyone have any suggestions? If you have been to Belize what worked for you? What didn't work? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[UpstateCruizer]

I'd advise you to use extreme caution with any of the Deet products. I heard all the warnings about bugs as well. I went to the sporting goods section as Walmart and picked up a container of wipes that contained a higher amount of Deet. They are sealed with a foil top that you have to peel back before you pull the first wipe out. Makes them safer to travel with than a spray that might leak and get onto other items. Just reading the warnings on them were enough to get me to throw them in my beach bag but not use them unless I absolutely had to. We were at Bannister Island and had no bug issues that required treating. I would stick with a wipe type product since you can control where it's going on your body vs a spray that will be misting in the air. I hate the thought of breathing it in esp after reading the warnings on the container. I'm glad I had them but never needed them. Enjoy your time in Belize :)

[newmexicoNita]

We will be going to Belize on the Carnival Glory in a few weeks and I have read about the mosquitoes. We already booked Carnival's Bacab Eco Park & Wild Wings Butterfly House excursion. I am thinkiing of buying something that has DEET. Is that effective? I also read about soaking clothing in permethrin but I understand that can kill butterflies which we definitely don't want to do. Anyone have any suggestions? If you have been to Belize what worked for you? What didn't work? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

We had no problems with bugs in BElize but certainly did in Roatan. Whatever you use, make sure you apply it prior to leaving the ship. DH who gets eaten by everything waited til we got to the beach in Roatan, it almost spoiled his cruise. We have just moved to ARK and the chiggers were waiting for him. I don't care how bad Deep may appear to be, I am just happy he has found something that helps him. Even it doesn't keep everything away...

 

Nita

[firstcruise92]

Thank you for the responses. I ordered some wipes from drugstore.com that are 30% DEET. We will use it before leaving the ship in both Belize and Roatan.

[gkrnjlr]

I just came to this board to find out about this exact excursion. We were sold on this until I read a thread about how horrible the mosquito problem is. Just how bad is it? Was it bad for a few months but is getting better? Or is it an ongoing problem?

 

If we get the wipes from Walmart that were previously mentioned is this thread is it going to cure our problem?

 

Also, the Carnival excursion to Bacab Eco Park and Wild Wings Butterfly house includes lunch. Is this lunch indoors? Does anyone know?

 

If there are a lot of mosquito issues......is there a place to go and escape them and how long are we "stuck" at the park if we find that it's miserable?

 

Thanks!

[JustStartin]

We did the River Wallace/Altun Ha ruins tour last week and had no problems with insects. My family usually gets eaten mosquitos, but we had no problem.

 

In Roatan we did Gumbalima Park and of the 5 of us had only a couple bites. DH put repellant on sparingly, but otherwise no one else did.

[gkrnjlr]

We did buy the OFF brand wipes to wipe our arms, legs, etc. and we also bought a spray that is 99% DEET and are planning to spray that before we get off the ship.

 

I am hoping we'll not have many bites either.

[wadethegringo]

The mosquitoes are the worst at dawn and dusk. Not an isue with cruise ship visits. If you go into any wooded, grass or jungle areas I would advise treating exposed areas.

[Toyz711]

we did lamanai, in belize, last dec...no problems.

the day before, in santo tomas (quirigua)...the 'skitters were awful. but that area is very grassy...mostly it was the legs there were getting bit.

we had some regular bug spray, just normal stuff...worked great. we passed it around for others to use.

had the spray ready for lamanai, but didn't need it. one reason, less grass. except for a few butterflies, we didn't see or feel any bugs in belize. if you go to the beachs, i am sure there will be sand flies or fleas...

really read all the warnings on any "deet" product!!

[sanditoes4]

I went ziplinning in Belize last year, it was a bus ride there but then we had to hike to the place. We also had to stand in line once we got up there and I honestly don't remember even brushing away bugs?? I would maybe ask the companies you are using if bugs are bad your time of the year, I went in Jan. maybe that had something to do with it?? Bugs were nowhere to be seen for me!!!

[loveJake]

We did the River Wallace/Altun Ha ruins tour last week and had no problems with insects. My family usually gets eaten mosquitos, but we had no problem.

 

In Roatan we did Gumbalima Park and of the 5 of us had only a couple bites. DH put repellant on sparingly, but otherwise no one else did.

 

 

Maybe it has something to do with the time of year. We took this tour in 12/05 and I was the only one on the boat with anything. Boy did I make instant friends. The bugs were bad. There is a reason why you cannot donate blood for a year after returning from Belize.

[gkrnjlr]

So how bad do you think September will be?

[loveJake]

Don't know but we leave on the Glory on 9/6 and I am prepared just like I was in 05! This time we are doing the cave tubing.

[gkrnjlr]

Depending on what day you'll be there we may be there the same day!

We leave for our cruise on 9/7 on the Legend.

[loveJake]

Depending on what day you'll be there we may be there the same day!

We leave for our cruise on 9/7 on the Legend.

 

We are there on Wednesday the 10th.

[gkrnjlr]

I just looked......Ours is Thursday the 11th.

[Sally Forth]

We hike a lot in mosquito/blackfly areas and use the OFF Skintastic wipes that are safe for kids. They come in individual towelettes and don't smell bad. I have used the Deep Woods Off spray and it worked, but it took all the shine off my toenail polish. That worried me!

 

Viv

[firstcruise92]

We did use the 30% DEET and didn't have a problem with mosquitoes; however, I don't think the mosquitoes were bad there so I'm not sure we really needed the DEET.

[gkrnjlr]

I'm in the airport waiting to fly home (just got off the ship) and have to say we did use the DEET wipes but really didn't even need them. We saw NO mosquitoes!