Bannister Island Tour Cancellation

[happywhenImcruizin]

We arrived back off the Carnival Legend yesterday March 22). We were booked for the "Private Island Beach Break" on Bannister for Thursday. Tuesday we were told that the tour was cancelled indefinitely for "safety and operational" concerns. I looked up Bannister Resort online and found that the Operations Manager had been murdered on the island Friday, March 13. The link to the news article is http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=23515

This is very sad and disturbing and I don't know when/if the island will reopen.

 

Thanks very much to Major and Minor Tom for accommodating my family as walkups for the Belize Cave Tubing.

[Kathleen803]

Thank you for this information. I am arriving next week and was perplexed as to all the cancellations - would you know if there were other beaches to go to since Bannister seems to be out of the question. Thanks any information that you have would be very helpful.

[stlrboo]

Thanks for the update...! We are booked thru CCL for June, and altho' we have rec'd no e-mail stating the excursion has been cancelled, it is no longer being offered on the website..:o

 

'My Cruise' still shows it, so I'm guessing they may offer the excursion in the future, after the 'murder' is solved...!!:p;)

[happywhenImcruizin]

Kathleen,

 

I don't know of any beaches in Belize that you can get to without taking a snorkel tour. We have gone to a small beach at Caye Caulker twice with Coral Breeze, but both times we booked a snorkel tour. I don't know where the water taxis go or how reliable the schedules are, but that might be an option.

[CMJFamily]

we were also supposed to do the tour last week on the Legend. Instead, we just went ashore and booked a beach break through fabtours - $20 each and our son free. they took us to spanish lookout island. we were not impressed at all. no powdery white sand, water was not clear blue. it was more like swiming in a lagoon. we wanted to leave right away but had to wait 3 hours for the boat back. we made the best of it and the lifeguard there was very friendly.

 

on another note, on sunday, we were bumped on our connecting flight in washington dc (to bufflao) united did not get us back home until today!! missed two days of work.

[CMJFamily]

sorry, i posted too quickly...

we asked some of the locals about the murder and nobody was saying much. the carnival people we talked to also denied any knowledge. a sad situation but to be honest, my husband and I were not shocked. we have had great stops in belize, and have done cavetubing, ziplining etc but have never felt completely "safe" despite having met some very friendly people there.

[stlrboo]

I may just opt for the 'brewery tour', tho' I'd probably do it thru Coral Breeze vs the ship tour..!:)

 

Would still rather do the Bannister Island Beach Break..:p Maybe just a quiet day on the ship's balcony instead..:D

The tour is still showing under 'My Cruise' so we can hope they start it up again by June.. !!:cool:

[Goingaway]

They might start it up again, I was looking thru Eco tours and they e-mailed me yesterday saying the island is open again and NCL passengers would be going there this week.

[stlrboo]

They might start it up again, I was looking thru Eco tours and they e-mailed me yesterday saying the island is open again and NCL passengers would be going there this week.

I had a feeling they would be 'going back', after the furor calms down! :)

 

We were actually in Limon several weeks after the cruise ship passenger 'killed a robber' during an excursion..:D:rolleyes:

Was really pretty calm and peaceful after the 'locals' saw how much $$$ they would be losing if the ships quit going there..;)

[gjsmth]

They might start it up again, I was looking thru Eco tours and they e-mailed me yesterday saying the island is open again and NCL passengers would be going there this week.

 

This is what I got from Coral Breeze tours in a email.

Bannister Island has been reopened. The murder case of the island manager hasn't been resolved, but the police are apparently close. As far as safety issues, the island itself is only 3 1/2 acres and the only people on it are tourists and staff. The murder/robbery was apparently an inside job, and a real tragedy.

 

Could be the cruise lines start to bring this back online sooner then later.

[RVman]

I may just opt for the 'brewery tour', tho' I'd probably do it thru Coral Breeze vs the ship tour..!:)

 

Would still rather do the Bannister Island Beach Break..:p Maybe just a quiet day on the ship's balcony instead..:D

The tour is still showing under 'My Cruise' so we can hope they start it up again by June.. !!:cool:

 

Are you sure? I cruise in September and it was removed from ours and still hasn’t been replaced. :(

[stlrboo]

Are you sure? I cruise in September and it was removed from ours and still hasn’t been replaced. :(

June 18th, Belize.. - XPrivate Beach Break Excursion - $45.00 pp.. Total $135.00!:p

 

That is what it says... :) <shrug>:rolleyes: Honest!:p

[LaShelle2]

I'm sailing ncl 4-5-09 and booked this excursion, they said it has not been cancelled and claim they know nothing about any murder

[watchdiva]

It's always good to have Plan B if Plan A falls through. For every port we visit, we always have a primary excursion plan and a secondary excursion plan just in case. For our cruise next month we have a primary in Cozumel booked through NCL and a back-up booked privately (Nachi Cocum). We likely won't know until a few days before we port in Coz whether our excursion will take place (tour is a max of 12). If it doesn't take place, we'll go to Nachi so either way we've got great plans for Coz.

[RVman]

June 18th, Belize.. - XPrivate Beach Break Excursion - $45.00 pp.. Total $135.00!:p

 

That is what it says... :) <shrug>:rolleyes: Honest!:p

 

Not sure where your looking but where I‘m looking it’s not showing a Private Beach Break Excursion for the Legend Jun 14 departure out of Tampa

[stlrboo]

Not sure where your looking but where I‘m looking it’s not showing a Private Beach Break Excursion for the Legend Jun 14 departure out of Tampa

I am looking under 'My Cruise' under my booking #!:)

 

Hopefully, you can not see that information....!!!:eek:

 

I DO NOT see it listed on the Carnival website, but so far, they are planning on charging me $135.00!!!:p

 

Golly......:rolleyes: You think I'm making this stuff up...???

[RVman]

No I don't think your making it up. My Carnival PVP said it's not happening as of now.

 

I thought you might have a better source of information but it appears you don’t.

[ms_lane]

We just arrived back from the Carnival Glory. Bannister Caye was opened. Beautiful site; unfortunate the tragedy happened. We learned of the murder after our return.

[gjsmth]

We just arrived back from the Carnival Glory. Bannister Caye was opened. Beautiful site; unfortunate the tragedy happened. We learned of the murder after our return.

 

Did you take the excursion via Carnival or a private off the ship tour? Hoping Carnival is once again offering it's "Private Island Beach Break" excursion to Bannister Island.

[stlrboo]

We just arrived back from the Carnival Glory. Bannister Caye was opened. Beautiful site; unfortunate the tragedy happened. We learned of the murder after our return.

We are pre-booked thru Carnival for this tour... It still shows in 'My Cruise', so I'm thinking they probably plan to be returning there before June!!:) Would also like to know if your went thru CCL!!!

[Tinker326]

Did you take the excursion via Carnival or a private off the ship tour? Hoping Carnival is once again offering it's "Private Island Beach Break" excursion to Bannister Island.

 

I am also wondering this- We were on the Glory last week too and stopped at Belize. We had one in our party who wanted to do Bannister & she went to book Monday night- and the shore excursion desk told her it wasn't available anymore. With no other explantion. We thought that meant it was full-

 

How scary though. I was a little bit overwhelemed with Belize myself. I'm glad we went and saw the Ruins (through Carnival) but I have to admit I was uneasy through the tour- even with our 'armed guard'.

[michigyrl]

We were just there during our 3/8 cruise on the Valor and we did the Carnival beach break excursion. I am saddened to hear of this happening.

 

Just a note if you do end up doing the excursion through Carnival....when we arrived at the beach, we could barely find 2 chairs. They had already been taken by the other beach-goers. I was really going to complain up a storm to Carnival if I paid $45/person and didn't even get a chair. Just be aware that you may not get a chair in your $45 price package. Also, the drink that is included in the price was a small glass of a punch that came from a huge water cooler. It's not like a "bar made" drink. We weren't too crazy about the beach area either...especially walking into the water. On one side of the beach the ground was really squishy....didn't like that feeling at all. And on the other side it was really rocky...enough so that it really hurt my feet to walk. Thankfully we absolutely loved the other 3 ports that we visited during our cruise. If I was to ever go back to Belize, I would not do this excursion again.

[stlrboo]

OH Great! And I've heard so many nice reviews about Bannister Island....:(

 

Wonder if things have changed since the 'incident'... !?? Had hoped for a beach day for the DS.. May have to re-think..:(

 

Anone with recent experiences?? We sail in June....

[jacksmom09]

I had this reserved for us in April and am still trying to find a good alternative!:eek: any advise???:confused:

[icart]

This is what I got from Coral Breeze tours in a email.

Bannister Island has been reopened. The murder case of the island manager hasn't been resolved, but the police are apparently close. As far as safety issues, the island itself is only 3 1/2 acres and the only people on it are tourists and staff. The murder/robbery was apparently an inside job, and a real tragedy.

 

Could be the cruise lines start to bring this back online sooner then later.

 

I have to say, that doesn't make me feel very good. The case is unresolved, the only people on the island are tourists and staff, and they think it's an inside job? So basically we'll be on this island with whoever did this? That's nice.

 

I booked the private island excursion b/c it seemed like the safest bet, now I'm not sure what we'll do for our day in Belize. It's still showing up on my reservation, so I'm trying to find out if it's a go or not.

 

I'm not sure what our back up plan will be. My youngest wouldn't be up for the cave tubing, and I'm not keen on having an armed guard drive us to the ruins. Maybe we'll spend a low key day on board. I dunno.