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Glen - 21 Jul 2004 02:00 GMT

Hi,
We have decided to go to belize for our honeymoon in November and have
done a little research on belize through the web. Trying to get
more tips from people who have been there.
We are interested in doing a jungle/island resort stay. Maybe three
days in the jungle (chaa creek or jaguar paw) and then stay on
ambergreis cay for four days. (the fiance likes victoria house)
The activities we are interested in doing are the ariel trek zip
line(jag paw offers this ),
and maybe the cave tubing/waterfalls/ mayan treks.
On ambergries, we are interested in the three tank blue hole dive and
hol chan marine reserve/shark ray alley.(iam a DM and shes advanced)

The questions:
Is November a good month for the activities that we want to
accomplish?
Is 1 week long enough for doing the activities and relaxing as well?
Is it cheaper to just get the hotel and airfare and rental car and
book the activities seperately?
(When I get quotes from bookers and agents i do not see any cost
savings by doing a packaged deal.)
Is renting a 4x4 better than using the jungle resorts transfer?
(I was quoted 150.00 per person for ground transfer from belize
airport to jaguar paw)
Is there much of a real savings by going through these belize travel
agents. The packages they offer are no more than an ala cart menu
added up. Is it better to book the hotel accomodations and activities
individually?

thanks for the help.

glen

Reply to this Message

chilly - 21 Jul 2004 04:12 GMT

> Hi,
> We have decided to go to belize for our honeymoon in November and have
> done a little research on belize through the web. Trying to get
> more tips from people who have been there.
> We are interested in doing a jungle/island resort stay. Maybe three
> days in the jungle (chaa creek or jaguar paw)

I haven't seen Chaa Creek. While I didn't stay at Jaguar Paw, I've been
there and it's pretty fabulous.

>and then stay on
> ambergreis cay for four days. (the fiance likes victoria house)

Awesome. You will love it. I don't think 4 days will be enough but you are
doing it in the right order. Jungle then VH.

> The activities we are interested in doing are the ariel trek zip
> line(jag paw offers this ),
> and maybe the cave tubing/waterfalls/ mayan treks.

Jaguar offers that too.

> On ambergries, we are interested in the three tank blue hole dive

Amigos del Mar on their Pro48. You have to get up very, very early in the
morning.

>and
> hol chan marine reserve/shark ray alley.(iam a DM and shes advanced)

You can't dive shark/ray alley, it's a snorkel trip. I've dived Hol Chan
and it's fun, but there are much more exciting dives in the local,
especially for your level of training. Just take a snorkel excursion to
both and do other dives. It'll be money better spent.

If you are going to do enough dives with Amigos, you can probably negotiate
a better rate for the dives including Blue Hole day trip.

> The questions:
> Is November a good month for the activities that we want to
> accomplish?

Are you going in late or early November?

> Is 1 week long enough for doing the activities and relaxing as well?

Not to my mind.

> Is it cheaper to just get the hotel and airfare and rental car and
> book the activities seperately?

It can be but it is more of a hassle, especially when you have only a short
period of time to get the feel of the country. Besides, driving in Belize
can be dangerous if you aren't used to it. And finding your way around can
be a bit tricky.

> (When I get quotes from bookers and agents i do not see any cost
> savings by doing a packaged deal.)

That surprises me. Let me see if I can find some URL's for you to hook up
with some Belize experts. If that is indeed the case, it is pretty easy to
do the bookings yourself. It is easy to organize flights with Continental,
and then a pickup from Jaguar's at the airport. They'll take you to the
resort and then see you back to the airport for your puddle jumper to San
Pedro. Victoria House will explain how they will arrange to get you to the
hotel. Then you just take the puddle jumper return flight to Belize City in
time to make your flight home.

> Is renting a 4x4 better than using the jungle resorts transfer?

As I said, not to my mind.

> (I was quoted 150.00 per person for ground transfer from belize
> airport to jaguar paw)

Yikes! Who quoted that? Jaguar Paw?

> Is there much of a real savings by going through these belize travel
> agents. The packages they offer are no more than an ala cart menu
> added up.

Who are you looking at using?

> Is it better to book the hotel accomodations and activities
> individually?

I think so. Have you given any consideration to staying fulltime at
Victoria House and then once there, looking into some day trips into Jaguar
Paw or something like that?

> thanks for the help.

Let me know who you've looked at in the way of Belize agents and perhaps I
can tell you more.

> glen

Reply to this Message

Rosalie B. - 21 Jul 2004 04:55 GMT

>> Hi,
>> We have decided to go to belize for our honeymoon in November and have
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>Awesome. You will love it. I don't think 4 days will be enough but you are
>doing it in the right order. Jungle then VH.

Actually I think it should be the other way around. You can dive an
extra day if you don't have to stop to fly back

>> The activities we are interested in doing are the ariel trek zip
>> line(jag paw offers this ),
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>especially for your level of training. Just take a snorkel excursion to
>both and do other dives. It'll be money better spent.

I did Hol Chan as a night dive.

>If you are going to do enough dives with Amigos, you can probably negotiate
>a better rate for the dives including Blue Hole day trip.
[quoted text clipped - 55 lines]
>Let me know who you've looked at in the way of Belize agents and perhaps I
>can tell you more.

grandma Rosalie

Reply to this Message

chilly - 21 Jul 2004 05:09 GMT

> >Awesome. You will love it. I don't think 4 days will be enough but you are
> >doing it in the right order. Jungle then VH.
>
> Actually I think it should be the other way around. You can dive an
> extra day if you don't have to stop to fly back

That's a reasonable point, however, my flights out of Belize City are always
around 4-5 pm. So I dive the day before, get up day of departure, leisurely
pack, have a good walk around and then catch the puddle jumper around
2-2:30.

> >both and do other dives. It'll be money better spent.
> >
> I did Hol Chan as a night dive.

It's the most common night dive and probably a good choice to do it that
way.

Reply to this Message

chilly - 21 Jul 2004 05:09 GMT

> > thanks for the help.
>
> Let me know who you've looked at in the way of Belize agents and perhaps I
> can tell you more.
>
> > glen

Did you look at this agent?

http://www.belize-trips.com/index.html

Reply to this Message

Glen - 22 Jul 2004 01:25 GMT

Thanks Chilly,
The agent who has been giving me the costs is magnum belize. she has
been extremely friendly and helpfull.
this is what i got for jag paw
Lodging-140.00 ntly dbl x 3-420.00
17% tx/sv chg-71.40
Hotel transfers-150.00 for both
9% sales tx/transfers-13.50
half day cave tubing-40.00 pperson/x 2-80.00
9% sales tx on tour-7.20
zip line trek-55.00 pp x 2-110.00
9% sales tx-9.90 on tour
contn breakfst daily-approx 7.00pper x 2 x 3 days-42.00
19% tx/ sv chg on meal--7.98
TTL OF ABOVE COMES TO 911.98-

I guess i was mistaken on the transfer costs (not 150 each but for
both) but still seems a little high.

Reply to this Message

chilly - 22 Jul 2004 04:24 GMT

> Thanks Chilly,
> The agent who has been giving me the costs is magnum belize. she has
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> I guess i was mistaken on the transfer costs (not 150 each but for
> both) but still seems a little high.

I know it seems high and it is a bit of usury to my mind. There is, of
course, a convenience factor. Also, the price of gas in Belize is quite
outrageous. Jaguar has to send a car from their resort to pick you up, then
drive you there. On the return it is the opposite, does it make you more
comfortable to consider that each of the four legs is $37.50? ;^)

To go to Jaguar for cave tubing on a day trip, out of San Pedro, is more
than $100/person. I thought it outrageous, but we had a great boat ride, a
van ride, a tour of the Belize Zoo, lunch at Jaguar, tubing and then a
return back with rum punch liberally poured. The only real problem was that
the skies literally poured that day too. The return trip was brutal despite
the rum punch.

Reply to this Message

Glen - 22 Jul 2004 17:43 GMT

well, thats a pretty good way of looking at the transfer costs. i have
heard that if the costs of gas are high in the states, there even
double in central america. so i can just imagine. i think we are going
to stay three nights in the jungle as we really want to see the
rainforests rather than see it thorugh tour or activity. we like
blancaneux plus this is in the mtn. pine ridge area so we can do the
ruins and the waterfalls and on the way back to belize municipal, stop
off at jag paw and do the zip line and cave tubing and then go to
ambergreis from there. for this to work though, the weather needs to
cooperate, the modes of trasnportation have to be on time and it needs
to be pretty seemless. but oh well.. we can wing it. thanks for your
help again chilly.

glen

> > Thanks Chilly,
> > The agent who has been giving me the costs is magnum belize. she has
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> the skies literally poured that day too. The return trip was brutal despite
> the rum punch.

Reply to this Message

Rosalie B. - 22 Jul 2004 19:41 GMT

>well, thats a pretty good way of looking at the transfer costs. i have
>heard that if the costs of gas are high in the states, there even
>double in central america. so i can just imagine. i think we are going
>to stay three nights in the jungle as we really want to see the
>rainforests rather than see it thorugh tour or activity. we like
>blancaneux plus this is in the mtn. pine ridge area so we can do the

Just as a point of reference - mountain pine ridge is not 'jungle'. I
don't think it is even a rain forest. So you won't IMHO see jungle if
you go there. If that's what you want to see. I'm not sure if you
can get the ruins (depending on which ones) from there very well
either. We went up into mt pine ridge one day and saw the area and
the waterfall but we didn't need to take more time than a day trip.

We could have gone done horseback riding or canoeing from our lodging
in the Cayo district or we could have gone up to Xunantunich and tubed
down the river back to where we were staying from there. What we
actually did was visit Cahal Peche right in San Ignacio and then went
to the butterfly farm (after we got our flat tire fixed). Then we
took a day tour and spent the night at TIkal, across the border.

I'm not sure where Caracol is in relation to Blancaneux.

>ruins and the waterfalls and on the way back to belize municipal, stop
>off at jag paw and do the zip line and cave tubing and then go to
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
>> the skies literally poured that day too. The return trip was brutal despite
>> the rum punch.

grandma Rosalie

Reply to this Message

chilly - 22 Jul 2004 20:33 GMT

> well, thats a pretty good way of looking at the transfer costs. i have
> heard that if the costs of gas are high in the states, there even
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> blancaneux plus this is in the mtn. pine ridge area so we can do the
> ruins and the waterfalls

If you are into it, I highly recommend the hike through Actun Tunichal
Muknal.

Here's a couple of websites about it:
http://www.mayabelize.ca/maya/actun-tunichil-muknal.shtml
http://www.billandcori.com/belize/muknal.htm

It was one of the greatest things I have ever done. I enjoyed it more than
Chichen Itza and at least as much as diving.

and on the way back to belize municipal, stop

> off at jag paw and do the zip line and cave tubing and then go to
> ambergreis from there. for this to work though, the weather needs to
> cooperate, the modes of trasnportation have to be on time and it needs
> to be pretty seemless. but oh well.. we can wing it. thanks for your
> help again chilly.

You are very welcome. I love Belize and hope you have a wonderful trip. No
way to extend to 10 days, hunh? 7 days is just such a short time frame to
do everthing you want to do and still really have time to relax. That said,
you've picked some pretty relaxing accommodations so I'm sure you'll still
be very happy . . . Of course, as soon as you get home, you'll be trying to
figure out how to get back there sooner than later. :^)

Reply to this Message

Doris Pfister - 26 Jul 2004 14:05 GMT

Hi Glen,
If you are in Ambergris, you can take a day trip to Lamonai, a cool Mayan
ruin in the Orange Walk area of Belize. You go by boat to the mainlaind and
up a river and a van picks you up and takes you to Orange Walk. There you
get on a little river power boat and go through some scenic areas to the
ruins. You'll get a guided tour and nice hot lunch. We did this trip out of
Belize City with a rental car and the guide/boat/lunch only cost about $30.
I'm sure it will be more from Ambergris, but it's a great day trip.
I was there last November (early) and the river was too low for cave tubing.
Went again in March and it was too high. Ian Anderson's Adventure Company is
where we checked into the tubing. Ian Anderson's is located near Belmopan.
It's not as fancy as Jaguar Paw, but it's a pretty neat place with all kinds
of variety of accommodations. We met a couple that was there on their
honeymoon, and they did a tour where they hiked down into a cave, and there
was a bed with champaign, roses, etc. set up for them. So there's all kinds
of crazy stuff to do there. Try to plan a little more time, if possible.
We rented a little Susuki jeep to get around Belize and did quite a few
ruins. With two people the cost of a rental starts making sense, especially
with the crazy transfer charges the resorts have. We used Jabiru car
rentals... a guy named Eddie hooked us up with a good deal, and even picked
us up at the municipal airport in Belize when we returned from Ambergris.
I agree with snorkeling Shark Ray Alley. It is a fun little place. We did
two dives in Hol Chan and then did Shark Ray Alley as a snorkel stop. That's
the way to do it. Go to the wall and look for Spotted Eagle Rays, lots of
lobsters, etc.
Ah, speaking of lobsters, I'm getting ready to head down to the Keys for
mini-lobster season. Can't wiat.. I can already taste those little buggers.
Hope that helps. Have a good trip.
Doris Pfister, PADI MI 52598
www.DivingWithDoris.com
Florida
-------------------

> Hi,
> We have decided to go to belize for our honeymoon in November and have
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>
> glen

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