I work on a cruise ship in the entertainment department and today, as usual, I had the day off. The ship was in Belize, so I went on a shore excursion to Geoff Caye.

Usually the excursion boats have ladders to help people get into the water, but the guys running this one were pretty non-chalant...lol. There were no ladders and most of the passengers who went on the trip were, like, 65 years old.

They were asking "How ah we supposed to get into the wahtah??" and the guide said "Well, mon... just jump right on in! Get yourself in there!"

It was hilarious. Everybody's grandmother had to jump 6 feet into the water. All these old ladies cooing "Ooooooh! It looks awful fah down theah!"

The guide was so impatient he was cracking me up. He was like "We don't have all deay, leadies. Get out! Get into the water!" He was practically pushing them out of the boat.

I really liked the coral formations, much more diverse than anything I've seen in Grand Cayman or Dzul-ha in Cozumel.

I'm going to C.C. next time the ship's in Belize. Where's the best place to snorkel on C.C.?

That was an interesting travelog, and a bit disturbing. In my experience (recent), when we arrived at Goff's Caye, there was a nice peir to tie up to and when we came ashore, via the peir, you could walk right into the water from the beach (not have to jump in 6 feet) because the islet sits right on top of the reef. I wonder why my experience was so different from yours. As a side note, the tour operators that vendor for the cruise ships have NOTHING to do with the tour operators from San Pedro or Caye Caulker. Totally seperate beasts. The tour companies, in my opinion sprang up overnight and do not have the same level of experience as our local guildes who have been doing this for many years.

I'm sorry.... I just can't buy that a cruise ship would make 65 year old people jump off a boat, when there is a pier.

I'd go as far as to say that the poster was trying to be funny with the story, but alas, I'm not laughing either.

I would probably believe it. The tours and snorkeling and diving we have done out of AC have always had very helpful operators and have the proper equipment to take care of business, whether it is a ladder or whatever. Very professional in most things. On the other hand, we have been in locations where a fishing guide is just a guy with a boat, the small dive tours have been just a guy with a boat and some rented equipment. Same with snorkeling tours. With an influx of cruise ships, it is not hard to imagine that there are a lot of very small operators getting contracts and running tours to just about anywhere they can turn a buck. The guy with a boat theory again. These cruise folks hit the beach for a short time and are pretty easy pickings.
Just my opinion of course. No doubt there are some reputable operators out there.

I liked the low budget approach. It made it more exciting. The guide was just having people jump right out of the boat!

It was such a production getting from the ship to the snorkel site...

An hour wait in the main theater on the cruise ship, 20 minutes waiting in line on the cruise ship for other people to tender off, then the guide stopped our tender halfway to Geoff Caye and said, "I want everyone to sign a waiver and this manifest as well!"

The passengers started to argue with the guy,"You can't railroad us into signing this thing by stranding us out here!"

It was ridiculous. After 20 minutes of that the guide re-started the engine and in ANOTHER 20 minutes we were at the snorkel site. 2 HOURS total!!

Everyone was happy to jump off the boat after waiting 2 hours. lol.

Even funnier would be the sight of those same women getting back aboard :rolleyes:

BELIZE IT!!!!! Next tim,e take a trip to Belize minus the cruise ship......just an opinion!!! C

I agree visit Belize often, but leave the cruise ship at home.

What was the name of the boat? Shouldn't you be complaining to the cruise line?