Wet and Wild is the only way to go!

[DoubleDee2]

I must get on here and quickly tell you about our most excellent tour with Wet and Wild. We have not one complaint. We are a group of frequent travelers that went on the Cave Tubing and it was spectacular. You can not go wrong with them. Marvin meets you at the tender, Charlie and Roy take us (all 17) on the bus. Charlie gave the most informational and interesting talk on the way to the caves. He told us about the plants, gave us "mud facials" and got half our group to eat live termites!! hehehehe This was the best tour of our trip and we pre-booked everything with tons of research done beforehand. Don't waste your time searching many companies, just trust me! I have a ton of great pictures of us jumping off the cliff and doing all the same caves that other companies tell you about (more than the cruise ship tour does). On the way back, we ate the Amigos restaurant or something like that, it was EXCELLENT! We have some very pickly eaters who loved everything, and it was such a neat place! Charlie sang some Guns and Roses for us and did a nice hard rock serenade on our return to the pier. This tour was worth every penny and then some! Ask questions if you like...... What a beatiful place, we would all go back in a second!:D

[DoubleDee2]

Oh, by the way, here is the link....Ecological Tours & Services

(You can charge your deposit and pay the rest when you get there. All of my contact was via e-mail)

[cruisinhs]

Thanks for the amazing review! You sound just like I did when I got back from my trip. I honestly could not say enough about the experience we had with Wet n Wild, Marvin and Charlie. It was the highlight of our trip! I'm so glad you had such a wonderful time! Imagine what people are missing if they pass up the opportunity to take this tour!

[650cs]

We just got back from this trip and it was everything I had read and more. I felt so sorry for the herds of people (25-30 in a group) going with the ship's excursion! We had 8 in our group plus the guide, Charlie. It was wonderful. At one point, deep in an underground cave, he told us all to be quiet and turn off our headlamps. It was so dark! You couldn't see your own hand. We turned the lamps back on and gently floated with the current in and out of caves. It was so quiet you could hear the water dripping down or the waterfalls. Sometimes we could hear noise from the large groups through the cave walls. I can't imagine how loud it was inside their cave with the echo!

Our trip was so peaceful and beautiful. It was wonderful. We were the only ones that had a last tender at 3:30, the others in our little group didn't leave until 5:00. I was very nervous about being so far away from the ship but they assured us that we would get back in time. We did and had an hour to spare. It was the highlight of our trip!

[mnsawyer]

Did you have to wait long at the pier for others to arrive? I'm still not sure about times, etc., when you have to tender in and there are several ships in port. Was everyone on your bus in the same group, ship, etc.? I assume Marvin is holding a sign or something? Belize is on central time, correct?

[Marcys]

I have a ton of great pictures of us jumping off the cliff and doing all the same caves that other companies tell you about (more than the cruise ship tour does). :D

Are your pics posted somewhere? Would love to see them! We have a big CC group sailing Carnival's Valor June 12 that booked this tour.

[650cs]

We were the last ones to arrive for the trip, so we didn't have to wait for others to arrive. When you get off the ship, Marvin or someone from Wet-n-Wild is waiting for you. They are located INSIDE the dock area. Look for someone wearing Paradise Air t-shirts. As soon as everyone is present, your group leaves. Beize is on Central time. We were on a NCL ship and the others were on Carnival. It didn't matter, everyone just found each other. Just do not go outside the fenced area into the main street. Not all the tour vendors are allowed inside the secure area, Wet-n-Wild is inside the secure area. It wasn't hard to find them.

[DoubleDee2]

Did you have to wait long at the pier for others to arrive? I'm still not sure about times, etc., when you have to tender in and there are several ships in port. Was everyone on your bus in the same group, ship, etc.? I assume Marvin is holding a sign or something? Belize is on central time, correct?

We were the only ones in our group and we were the only ship in port that day. We just made sure to be on a tender by like 9:15 ship time (8:15 Belize). It is a a bit longer of a tender than normal. We also had our last tender to the ship at 3:30 (2:30 Belize~ Central), I think we left a bit earlier than most ships do. Marvin typically holds a sign, I think, but he just walked right up to us. Somehow he must have "known"! LOL Maybe we were the only ones walking off the tender looking for a sign? hehehe The pictures I have will be available soon, I will let you know when and where!

[39august]

How cold was it? I'd like to try this next time in Belize, but am concerned that the water may be too cold for me.

[cruisinhs]

Obviously it depends on what time of year you go. We were there in September and found the water to be refreshing, but I wouldn't describe it as warm. Inside the caves, they say the water temperature stays the same since it is underground. It was cool, but not enough to give you chills. Without any wind, it was really fairly comfortable. I believe the guide said it was about 78 degrees. It is an amazing experience!

[Sunrise]

Thanks so much for this information! I am getting ready to book with Wet and Wild for my cruise mid-January. We are on the Grand Princess and have serious time constraint issues, but it seems like they are doing a great job working around them. Any other Grand passengers out there who have done this tour???

[650cs]

I get cold very easily but the water wasn't too bad. I did get out on shore twice to warm up and that wasn't any problem. No one else needed to get out except for me. I was able to get back in and catch up with the group without any problem. I don't think that they even realized what I was doing, no one had to wait on me or anything. I went in December.l

[beelane]

Hi 650, I believe we were on the same tour as you. I believe you were on the Dream right? The rest of us were on the Enchantment of the Seas. I never realized you had gotten out of the water at any point. We had such a good time with Charlie and our little group. I wouldn't do it any other way. We got to know each other and had so much fun. My husband Dan said it was his favorite tour. The only problem I had was with my shoes and crossing the river. I didn't have the best shoes. When they say wear water shoes, old sneakers, etc, they know what they are talking about.

 

Charlie was great. He knew you two had to be back for a certain time and got us ahead of all the bus tours. We still had time for a great lunch too. Charlie is very knowledgeable about his country and even took us in town to get some cashews from a friend who grows them.

 

I didn't find the water cold (Charlie said it was about 74 degrees) but I'm from Maine and the ocean here never seems to get that warm, even in summer. It was refreshing after the walk through the rain forest. I did get chilly a couple of times in the caves when we weren't paddling, but once we started going again, I warmed right up. Oh, when they say bums up, do it. Some areas the water is very shallow and you'll go over smooth rocks.

 

I had no problem finding Paradise Air (Wet n Wild). No one was standing there when we got off the tender but we asked some people and they showed us where to go.

 

Hi to Catherine and Dan, Shirley and Dennis and Kim and Larry.

 

Michele and Dan

beelane333@aol.com

[DoubleDee2]

I also am a "freeze Baby" and am always cold. I am the last one to wear shorts in the summer and the first one to put a sweat shirt on in the fall! I did not think the water was too cold at all. I even get hives when my skin gets too cold. I did start to get them at towards the end, but it still didnt "feel" cold.

[springersgirl]

Just got off the Legend 12/22/04 and this was a cruise to forget! WAY TOO MANY OLD people and they dropped like flies. So what does this have to do with cave tubing? Well Belize was our first port and after reading all the reviews on this wonderful board we booked with Marvin to go Cave Tubing. The second night on our cruise the cruise director came on with an announcement that "due to a passenger emergency we are making an emergency stop at Cozumel". The ship got diverted to Cozumel to disembark not one but two passengers. This made us 4 hours late into Belize but Carnival extended the time at this port until 6:30. Carnival cancelled a lot of tours, and they cancelled THEIR cave tubing tour. Because of this many people thought there wasn't enough time to go cave tubing, but I figured we still had time.

 

HOT TIP: In order to get on an earlier tender, you go to the pursers desk and tell them you have a tour booked that is not with Carnival. They told us just to go to the Follies Lounge and tell them there and they will let us off on the first tender. So you CAN get off early! Just have your trip or tour confirmation print out with you.

 

We got off on the first tender. The people are very easy to spot on the pier - they all hold up signs they are looking for you. There are all kinds of tour operators there selling tours - all very legit - so if you didn't do it earlier you won't miss out. We found Marvin's people and we were the first two to arrive. He had about 15 other people that had reservations so we waited --- and waited -- and waited until it was 1:00 and the last tender came over. I started looking for young people and asking everyone I could find if they wanted to go cave tubing as I was desparate. I ReALLY wanted to do this! Finally I found a family of 7 that had made reservations but gave up because they didn't know they could get off on the earlier tender and thought because Carnival had cancelled there wasn't enough time to go.

 

We gathered everyone up and hustled on out to our adventure. It was great! I am SO GLAD we were able to do it. We sacrificed some things due to lack of time but at least we were able to do the tubing. We made it back to the pier at 6:00 PM which was supposed to have been the last tender, but as long as people are on the pier, they run the tenders. You won't miss the ship! Believe me, if they will detour the ship with 2400 passengers for one person, they will tender 7 back to the boat! :)