NCL Belize excursions--which one is best?

[boilermaker330]

I am having trouble trying to decide which excursion to book for our family of five--three kids ages 15, 13 and 8. Since this is a tender port, we think we will stick with an NCL excursion instead of booking with an independent operator. The Beach Break, Wildlife Adventure, Airboat Adventure/Belize City Tour, River Safari/Caves/Beach and Land Rover Jungle Tour are all in the running. Can anyone offer feedback about their experiences? Thanks!

[jollycruise]

Here's what happened with our NCL excursion in Belize. We had one booked and it was cancelled. Not only was our cancelled but many, many other NCL excursion were cancelled. Apparantly NCL was having some disputes with the local tour operators and cancelled our ships excursions. So we took the tender in a hired a private driver just for the three of us. We were not interested being crammed into a bus with 30 other people. We had a wonderful time with our driver Manny. He grew up in the area close to the Myan ruins and we learned so much from him. He took us to the ruins and it was so much fun. So just keep in mind that if you do pick a NCL excursion there is always the chance it will get cancelled. You might want to have a backup plan just in case.

[boilermaker330]

Thanks for filling me in. I had not heard anything about this, and it will definitely affect my decision about shore excursions in Belize! I am now wondering about either the EcoTours Bannister Island Beach Break or cave-tubing.com's ATV/cave tubing tour. Anyone have any feedback?

[ariansun72]

My DH and I just returned from the NCL Pearl today, and we had a wonderful time. We did take the excursion with NCL to Lamanai. First of all getting to the tender boat was a breeze, as was arriving at the bus. Our tour-guide, "Chino", was very informative and entertaining. He really knew his stuff about the area, and he did say that he was born in one of the houses by the river.

Once we got to the boat ramp, we took a restroom break, and we were off on the boat trip. This was a great part of the excursion, and everyone had their eyes peeled for any wildlife. We did see some iguanas, and someone spotted a crocodile. There were lots of birds also. I did bring some ponchos to wear in case of rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful day, and we didn't need them.

When we finally got to the ruins site, we were treated with a nice authentic lunch of chicken, beans and rice, delicious salsa, and some other items. Also, bottled juice and bottled water were handed out.

After lunch, we headed out and first saw some howler monkeys up in the trees. At that time, they were quiet, but we did hear them later on when we were further away in the park. We had to walk down a very rocky path, with lots of tree roots. It was difficult to look around at the jungle, because I had my head down to make sure I didn't trip on anything. Once we got to the ruins, everyone was amazed. We were able to climb up one of them and look at the amazing view! My legs were sore from that climb for a couple of days... It was really worth it though. After we walked around the park for a while, it was time to head out. So then we boarded the boat and made a fast trip down the river, back to the bus.

We had a great time on this excursion. But let me tell you the not so good portion of this story. Be sure you spray yourself down with Deet prior to getting on the bus. There were lots of mosquitos flying around in there, and by the time we got to the boat, there were lots of them squished on the windows!

Also, once we were about 45 mins on the bus... we got a flat tire.. not just one tire, but two (they're side by side rear tires). Everything was ok, we safely pulled on the side of the road and waited 33 min. for another bus to pick us up. Most of us passengers got out and waited a ways off of the road. The drivers there were flying by, not even slowing down, so that could've been dangerous. But we had no misshaps. We were eventually on our way.

Then... next, in the boat, when we were within sight of the ruins in the lagoon... the clutch burned out...(also a collective sigh from the group!) but, luckily, we limped along and made it there. The guys were able to repair the boat in the time that we toured the site.

Thank goodness, there were no more "incidents"! Also, thank goodness that this was a ship sponsored tour, because we were late getting back to the ship (I think about 30 mins), and we were the last people aboard. Even though we were delayed by the flat tire, everyone was pretty relaxed during the whole trip, with the assurance that the ship would wait for us, and I didn't feel rushed through the day. I think everyone had a pretty good time with the NCL excursion to Lamanai.